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Mass Effect (4): First Details & Images [Update 2: Video of Mako driving around]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
She was. That's why I don't want her back and be forced to endure her with another character.
funkystudent
Member
During the Shepard timeline is somehow a worse idea then a prequal.
GG bioware.
GG bioware.
I am okay with this.
TylerDurden4321
Member
I agree 100%
APZonerunner
Member
A good chunk of the milky way is entirely unexplored in an official capacity in the ME universe, so they can go into that and make this game all about first contact with new worlds and new races. They can even use that to explain away why perhaps not all of the ME races would be present in the first game, which those old surveys suggested would happen. It's you exploring a brave new world. They can always return to Citadel space, perhaps only partially, in sequels.
'Official capacity' means it's perfectly possible stray ships have entered there though. Fuck, maybe there's a colony of genophage-free Krogan out there, or a splinter sect of Asari who traveled out there to be at peace and away from the rest of the galaxy. So they can marry existing themes and races to the concept of unexplored space.
Also, other than during ME3, anywhere about five years after first contact up until the very opening of ME3 is ripe for story without there being any real repercussions to the Reaper plot, as until that point the Reapers are either a secret (and the Geth are the enemy), or are something that's whispered about by a scant few and covered up from the wider public.
Also, this sits with the Mass Effect: Contact name that had been said on GAF a lot for months now. First contact with new worlds/species.
'Official capacity' means it's perfectly possible stray ships have entered there though. Fuck, maybe there's a colony of genophage-free Krogan out there, or a splinter sect of Asari who traveled out there to be at peace and away from the rest of the galaxy. So they can marry existing themes and races to the concept of unexplored space.
Also, other than during ME3, anywhere about five years after first contact up until the very opening of ME3 is ripe for story without there being any real repercussions to the Reaper plot, as until that point the Reapers are either a secret (and the Geth are the enemy), or are something that's whispered about by a scant few and covered up from the wider public.
Also, this sits with the Mass Effect: Contact name that had been said on GAF a lot for months now. First contact with new worlds/species.
TC McQueen
Member
I doubt that they'd actually do a story in another galaxy. In fact, I recall something similar to that "different galaxy" statement coming from one of the other ME4 info dumps months ago and it being clarified as "unseen areas of the galaxy."
Zomba13
Member
Psh, the canon ending is the one where you shoot ghost kid and don't give in to his bullshit and have the reapers continue the cycle.
Then you set ME4 in the next cycle millions of years later when Humanity has recovered (because humans are special lulz) and let us play about with a group of all new races this time with Humanity as the top dog big dick council guys.
Then you set ME4 in the next cycle millions of years later when Humanity has recovered (because humans are special lulz) and let us play about with a group of all new races this time with Humanity as the top dog big dick council guys.
EmCeeGramr
Member
If it's in a different galaxy (and not just an uncharted section of the same galaxy), but the Mako is there, then I'm guessing that this'll be some Star Trek Voyager action where you're part of a special secret Alliance team that goes through yet another super-special relay that nobody knows about, and it strands you in another galaxy.
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.
Canis lupus
Member
I can't get excited for this game. It doesn't sound like a truly new chapter in the ME universe. More like a refined continuation of the previous trilogy. It isn't taking risks by taking place in a different era and sounds like they'll bring in old characters. How is this not more than a side story? I don't wanna play minor events no matter how amazing they'll be while Shepard is saving the galaxy. It's not made by Bioware Edmonton either, they're working on a new game.
Zomba13
Member
I'm totally ok with a Voyager/Stargate Universe scenario.
The Omega-5 relay!
Rats Off To Ya
Banned
Yeah, I would take anything Andrea Rene says with a grain of salt. Learned that from years of Weekend Confirmed.
Blasto dlc confirmed? =p
XANDER CAGE
Member
Preoder now for the robot horse Mako skin DLC!
that sounds fun.
Aaron-Lagann
Banned
So with some of the things they're saying, is the state of characters/the world at the end of 3 out of spoiler zone?
mocolostrocolos
Member
So this is Stargate Atlantis.
The whole ending situation is a non-issue in terms of creating a sequel, the only option is Destroy. It's not exactly a difficult situation to figure out. Synthesis is completely untenable and Control just posses a shit ton of issues that would make for a boring ass universe. There have been plenty of games that offer perfect or good endings that go on to have sequels where they use the bad ending because that's the one that offers the most interesting possibilities. Anyone who would be up in arms because their choice of Control or Synthesis wasn't honored needs to reevaluate their life.
Also the whole relay blowing up thing was never about it being an Arrival type situation, but the fact that without the relays the majority of the galaxy would be dead in the fucking water, cut off from all other peoples for decades if not centuries due to limitations in standard FTL travel. Just because an asteroid hitting a relay causes a huge ass explosion doesn't mean when the Catalyst fires and breaks the relays that also creates a solar system destroying explosion, it just means the relays are broken.
If the game is set in another Galaxy during Shepard's life in a Star Trek Voyager type situation then how can old characters show up?
Also the whole relay blowing up thing was never about it being an Arrival type situation, but the fact that without the relays the majority of the galaxy would be dead in the fucking water, cut off from all other peoples for decades if not centuries due to limitations in standard FTL travel. Just because an asteroid hitting a relay causes a huge ass explosion doesn't mean when the Catalyst fires and breaks the relays that also creates a solar system destroying explosion, it just means the relays are broken.
If the game is set in another Galaxy during Shepard's life in a Star Trek Voyager type situation then how can old characters show up?
StalkerUKCG
Banned
100% on board. It's a great concept
TC McQueen
Member
To be fair, two of those three things were things people liked from the previous trilogy and wanted to see return, so if you're going to talk about something, those are pretty easy to show off/discuss without dealing with the whole "we really dropped the ball on the story at the end of the last trilogy" thing. Plus showing off all this other stuff builds up good will that Bioware desperately needs after their major fuck ups, so they probably plan to show tons of stuff before mentioning anything story related, so people will be willing to accept the game even if the plot is weak.
Gentle Rodriguez
Member
Oh god Reapers are coming back aren't they?
I'll just drink myself into a coma
I'll just drink myself into a coma
Zomba13
Member
You'll get a reaper squad mate.
Only it's not a full grown reaper.
It's a baby reaper.
And it's not all smart and wise and omniscient.
It's like Scrappy Doo.
APZonerunner
Member
Well, people explore. There's two years between Shepard dying and being revived, for instance. We know where Garrus is in that time, and we can account for about two months' of Liara's time, but how many other missions did Tali lead for the Quarians? (We know at least one other mission resulted in the death of her squad.) Did Wrex do any soul searching or travelling before returning to Tuchanka? He never says. Not to mention - what were the likes of Thane, Miranda, or Samara doing BEFORE Shepard recruited them? Samara's an easy one, for instance; her crazy hunting could've taken her outside of known space briefly prior to ME2.
There are certainly enough gaps there for cameos. But I doubt it'll be much more than cameos.
Well, they probably also want to save their story moment for the reveal trailer/media blitz. No point in blowing your wad then, but a comic con panel is a good chance to interface with the community to, so why not do it and keep it slim?
Midnight Phoenix
Member
This will be so lazy to make Reapers main enemies again. If they don't want to continue old story, better not touching it at all.
Let's hope not SG:Universe. SGA was pretty good.
John Harker
Definitely doesn't make things up as he goes along.
You do know this is Comic Con right?
Where 70% of the people here are DRESSED AS CHARACTERS from your universe?
If there was ever a time to talk about armor designs... Well, nailed it.
People are not buying it though the story and setting seems to be what concerns people
One problem I had with ME, and Bioware in general since DAO is, Bioware tends to portray giant cities/structures, but, there are hardly any npcs to at least give the same impression of size. It's the same problem I have with Elder Scrolls series. You go to Cyrodil and there's 70 people in the city. Hope they do something along the lines of AC Unity.
Sure if they did it that way it could work out. The more interesting way to do things would be to have this Voyager type situation occur right before the Reaper War started. They do their whole side story in another Galaxy and when ME4 ends and they find a way back home, they return to a post ME3 Milky Way where everything has gone to shit.
All of this depends though on whether this is a crew stuck and lost in a new galaxy, or if its an open channel they can go to and from at will and what time during ME1-3 it's set. We know so little right now it's hard to really say how shitty this is or not.
APZonerunner
Member
The Mako is back in a new form, multiplayer will continue (but will likely remain co-op vs AI and not PVP), and Bioware is still holding their cards close to their chest on setting. They did say old characters could possibly return, but they encouraged people to think of it as more a spiritual successor than an ME4 - it'll be familiar elements but lots of new stuff.
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.
I guess the problem with setting the game thousands of years future of the original games galaxy is that it's basically throwing away all the work they'd done building a universe.
Pulling a Mass Effect: Voyager allows them to keep the rules of the universe and get far far away from the events of ME3.
The more I think about this idea, the more I like it.
Pulling a Mass Effect: Voyager allows them to keep the rules of the universe and get far far away from the events of ME3.
The more I think about this idea, the more I like it.
It would be better to wait until the story stuff is ready and show it off together. The way they're doing it only makes it look like they're sweeping the story stuff under the rug. They didn't have to say anything at E3 or Comic Con, and I would much rather they hadn't. I'm getting the feeling that they're making the series more shooter and less RPG/story-based.
StalkerUKCG
Banned
Mako is back without any similar appearance(MINO) or a canon, used to explore more. Game takes place at some point during ME1-3 in a new galaxy. No word on playable race, may or may not be a N7. Familiar faces might appear.
TC McQueen
Member
Well, yeah, because we're NeoGAF, home of people who care a hell of a lot about games. For the average person, it might work. But anyone who really gives/gave a shit about the franchise, it's not that impressive since we care about things that Bioware isn't going to talk about for a long time (story and setting), especially because of ME3's ending.
Ovek
7Member7
Bet the story start with you leading a expedition through a previously deactivated ME gate that takes you "somewhere" to find tech/weapons to fight the Reapers, but we all know what will happen next... the ME gate will deactivate making sure you are locked away far from the Reaper war. 
Showing off the armor stuff is fine, but not at the expense of ignoring the story. Which is why so many people dress as said characters anyways.
Mutanthands
Member
I think it's kind of early for this level of over-reaction. The game is not that far along, so you can't talk about that stuff yet. And people have chomping at the bit for info. It's unrealistic to expect the next Mass Effect to spring fully formed from Bioware's brain, like Athena from Zeus' head. At same time, you have to show something, since the industry runs on hype.
I certainly hope they don't spoil crap like Shepard's "death" in ME2 again. I'd rather they dance around those things until it's good and ready, and leave some mystery.
Nerd Appropriate has also jumped on the another galaxy train though is going to double check: https://twitter.com/NerdAppropriate/status/493157287356157952
Justice_Bolt
Member
Mako with no canon? Lol
True recently replayed mass effect 3 first time I beat the game with the extended ending dlc still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
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. The game has already been in development longer than ME3.