Future of Mass Effect - What do you want?

[EatChildren]

Given the status of Anthem and the discussion circulating around BioWare's trajectory this generation and unpredictable future, let's stop for a brief moment and discuss Mass Effect.

Here's what we've got, with the series:
- BioWare launches into a new generation with Mass Effect, firmly establishing their reputable post-KOTOR pedigree with major original IP.
- Mass Effect 2 launches to critical and commercial acclaim, spearheading a massive expanded universe of content via books, comics, and media.
- Mass Effect 3 ends the trilogy with critical acclaim and generally positive commercial reception, surprising with an enjoyable multiplayer mode (that apparently made EA a quid), although generates cynicism among some fans and subsequent backlash due to what is perceived to be unfinished ending content and earlier promises in marketing not coming to fruition.
- Five years later Mass Effect: Andromeda launches. Intended to reboot the series with a new narrative disconnected from the trilogy, and powered by Frostbite 3, Andromeda is met with mixed critical and poor commercial reception due to technical issues, production inconsistencies, and a general apathy towards its game design and direction. Postmortems by Kotaku would indicate major developmental issues, including technical issues with Frostbite 3, overreaching in ambition versus production and technical imitations, and inconsistent leadership.

The implication from EA and journo gossip is that Mass Effect as a series is dead. Which isn't hard to believe given Andromeda's performance, and the lack of any real buzz from BioWare and EA. Although, we have seen some BioWare reps mention they would like Mass Effect to have a future.

So let's assume for a moment that EA and BioWare decide to put Mass Effect back on the table. SImply put; what would you like to see from it? What do you think is reasonable, and what would be the best direction for Mass Effect's future?

Prequel, trilogy sequel, Andromeda sequel?
Keep it simple, with a remake/remaster of the trilogy?
Continue Andromeda's open landmass design, or dial it back to more confined structure like the Trilogy?
Shepard, or no Shepard?
Or throw in the towel from the onset, and let the series stay dead?

And remember:

 

[SOTC is a 6/10]

I have a lot of gripes with each ME game, but I still love them anyway. I love the cast of characters, the setpieces, the designs, the weapons/powers, and ME3's multiplayer.

That said: I just want it to die. I don't want them to stretch it to the point where I start hating it like they did Dragon Age.

 

[Deleted member 30151]

I can't choose "Bring back Drew Karpyshyn as a writer" in the vote.

 

[LegalEagleMike]

Remaster it and then leave it the hell alone.

 

[SmartWaffles]

I want Bioware to stay away from it.

 

[Vic Damone Jr.]

Trilogy remake next gen and a sequel. I want to play as the child of Shepard dealing with a local threat with the common theme of the child trying to live in the shadow of their parent.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

I'll just be happy with a remaster, that's all I trust these fools with

 

[MidnightCowboy]

I would love a game without a high-stakes plot. Let me just be a space cop and handle smaller gigs.

 

[Fanuilos]

Let it die. Re-release the trilogy for everything in a couple years, but let it die. They botched their ending and then botched the soft reboot. It's done.

 

[YourFriendLevi]

I know it's the unpopular opinion, but I genuinely want Andromeda 2. I think Andromeda, for a lot of it's missteps, did set up a lot of compelling threads to expand a trilogy upon. And I think if it was given another chance to right the ship and capitalize on the seeds it planted then we could be looking at a genuine classic. It just needs to focus more on the storyline and less on the open world, bigger is better mentality.

 

[enzo_gt]

Andromeda 2 for sure. With a clearer direction and less troubled development process, I think there's still so much potential with that premise, despite Andromeda's faults.

 

[Nightengale]

A re-imagining of the original Mass Effect setting, but with a wholly new storyline/cast.

Basically imagine the beginning of Mass Effect 1, but instead of Shepard - it was a new character, it wasn't Eden Prime, and the cast you meet are all different and new.

 

[chandoog]

Right now I want them to revisit the past, make a Trilogy HD remaster for modern consoles and implement some modern engine upgrades (possibly move it from UE3 to UE4) like TAA etc.

 

[TheUnsungHero26]

Out of those options, my vote goes to trilogy sequel. I gave up hope for a remaster years ago, and now am waiting for Microsoft and EA to release X enhanced patches via BC.

But honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they completely rebooted the series when/if they return to it.

 

[stn]

Be creative for real. For example: a story where the main character you control is a completely new race. Make the story small-scale - for example, you're one of the Shadow Broker's assassins and you have to do some stuff. I don't know.

My point is it'd be refreshing if they don't make it about saving the whole galaxy again.

 

[Fiery Phoenix]

As much as I would love to see another one, I am not convinced the current BioWare is capable of doing it anymore.

 

[Deleted member 1845]

Either Andromeda 2, or Bioware grows some balls and picks a canon ending to the trilogy and creates a sequel. I don't care if it's 500 years in the future, carrying forward is the only path I'll accept, no prequel bullshit.

 

[CaptainUnderpants]

Today I learned that EatChildren can draw.

Edit:
Serious answer... I think they should start a new IP. Mass Effect is over. There's no need to keep it going.

Edit: And I remembered that they actually did start a new IP: Anthem. And haha, look at how it turned out.

 

[Deleted member 11626]

I want something that takes place on a smaller scale. Don't have to save the entire universe. Maybe some friends or a planet or something, but keep the game confined to a single star system. I don't care if that's a prequel or sequel, but that's what I want next. The popularity of the series was in its characters, the story, the lore, and the setting. I feel that those can all be done extremely well when nobody is worried about making a codex for 200 planets that we can't land on, or tacking on bullshit vehicle "exploration".

Also, never touch Andromeda again.

 

[Deleted member 2507]

Weirdly, Andromeda 2.

Andromeda has a lot of issues, but i figure it has a lot of promise. Improve characters and story, and fix the poor filler quest design. Address the morality of the colonization, focus more on the colonization than "save the galaxy once again", stuff like that. It did have pretty solid gameplay for most part. More enemies, more varied enemies, better balancing solves a lot of its issues as it is.
There's a lot one can do with the Andromeda setting since it doesn't have to be constrained by the Reapers.

There is no sense continuing on Milky Way. You piss off players by choosing any ending, as you do by ignoring them all, and allowing player choice doesn't work because every ending changes things too radically. I don't think there's a reasonable way to write a new ending to replace the existing ones, ME3s plot itself is deeply flawed due to its reliance on the superweapon thing, merely changing the ending doesn't fix it.
Besides, there's also "what compares to the Reapers?". It is really hard to top that. You could tell a tale of reconstruction post-war (maybe even quite a lot later), but everything would be still strongly tied to events of the original trilogy.

Remaster/remakes are, i think, ultimately unrelated to the series future otherwise. They can be done with or without continuation.

Of course, there's a possibility of prequels or sidequels, different protagonist, different area of Milky Way. But somehow i can't see that happening.

 

[Tuorom]

Something more akin to Mass Effect 1.
The scope.
The menus.
The stats.
The mako.
The universe.

 

[noyram23]

I just want a remaster first, then whatever the hell they want prequel, sequel, separate universe etc. I liked Andromeda so I have high tolerance for bad ME games

 

[The Unsent]

The Geth have invaded the universe again for some reason, or some force who looks identical. You have to find a soggy old Shepard, he stamps on the omni tool and tells the player to fuck off.

 

[Officer.Sanchez]

Outsource the franchise to CDProjekt Red or Obsidian or [insert developer] and never let Bioware touch it again.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Remaster the old games in one package with all DLC.

New trilogy, sequel or prequel, and bring back the RPG elements akin to the 1st one.

 

[Orbit]

As long the next Mass Effect actually has some original ideas and creativity, I don't whether it is a sequel, prequel, spinoff etc. Andromeda is not a bad game. But in terms of mass effect, it was an awful copy paste.

 

[Prolepro]

Either First Contact War or a canon sequel.

 

[Minty Freshness]

Here's my pitch:

Canonize the Destroy ending, set it a couple hundred years after, make it centered around the politics of a galaxy struggling to rebuild.

The relays are dead so how do you begin reconnecting everyone? What happens when colony worlds used primarily to feed core worlds can't produce like they used to? What old tensions flare up and what hatchets are buried?

There's a fascinating story to tell there.

Mechanically I'd prefer them to refine from Mass Effect 3. The open world experiment just didn't work for me personally.

 

[Enduin]

Trilogy sequel is the only acceptable course of action for a new game. A remaster would be a good move though to produce before that.

Here's my pitch:

Canonize the Destroy ending, set it a couple hundred years after, make it centered around the politics of a galaxy struggling to rebuild.

The relays are dead so how do you begin reconnecting everyone? What happens when colony world's used primarily to feed core world's can't produce like they used to? What old tensions flare up and what hatchets are buried?

There's a fascinating story to tell there.

Click to shrink...

Also this. This is exactly what I've been saying they should tackle since right after ME3 released. There's so much potential in a post Reaper war Galaxy.

 

[Asbsand]

What I want on your list:
Mass Effect Trilogy sequel.

What I really want:
Drew Karpyshyn Lead Writer, Mac Walters Senior, Patrick Weekes Senior. Armando Troisi Lead Cinematic Designer. Chris L'Etoile Lore IP go-to writer. Casey Hudson: Derivative favorite movie recreationist artist. Moral Support: Greg Zeschuck and EA executive officer: Ray Muzyka.

Brian Kindregan as Badass writer alongside John Dombrow. Chris Avellone for exotic companion writer? "Howdy" says your new Cowboy Turian bro.

Multiplayer System Designers: Larian Studios people.

Mass Effect: The sequel that could do no wrong and has my baby.

 

[Jestek]

I can't choose "Bring back Drew Karpyshyn as a writer" in the vote.

Click to shrink...

This! I was looking for that option. I strongly believe that Mass Effect would be a top tier trilogy if he remained on through the end of 3. I read his Mass Effect books as well. He was the reason that series was so impactful. The world and characters that he created made that game. It's a damn shame he couldn't complete the story.

 

[HitCtrlAltDel]

Remake the original trilogy tieing all three together into one big game. Take the opportunity to re-explore cut ideas from those games. Make the empty hub areas look alive with new tech. Make the game more fluid with a great combat system. Fix the upgrade and mod systems that no game really got perfect. Most importantly, fix the ending into something epic, because we all know it can be.

Then, with the new ending, make a sequel that works; instead of having to leave the Milky Way because 3 screwed everything up so much, we can now move forward with the series in a coherent direction.

Side note: Why is it that the idea of redoing the ending of ME3 seems impossible? It seems like BioWare feels like if they rewrite it then they admit they failed. News flash: you did fail, no one liked it, it made no sense (especially to those that followed the lore of the ME universe), but most importantly everyone will completely forgive you if you do the plot right with a well thought out ending that fits the series that was built up so intricately.

 

[anexanhume]

I outlined what I'd like to see in a previous thread. The gist is that the dark matter theory is true, and the reapers were quietly looking to a solution to the end of the universe. You are tasked with uncovering the secrets or the mass relays to transport to an alternate universe, or to transfer the collapse to an alternate universe, with the potential of not knowing what organics you could impact in other worlds.

 

[ZanderEzekial]

It's dead.

Some game franchises don't go forever. BioWare has changed massively since Mass Effect 2, the only genuinely good game in the series. They're not the same company and they can't continue that story. If BioWare even gets to make another game after the next Dragon Age, I'd like to see what else they can do.

 

[J_Viper]

It's dead.

Some game franchises don't go forever. BioWare has changed massively since Mass Effect 2, the only genuinely good game in the series. They're not the same company and they can't continue that story. If BioWare even gets to make another game after the next Dragon Age, I'd like to see what else they can do.

Click to shrink...

>implying Dragon Age is still alive at this point

 

[Deleted member 5864]

Mass Effect 1 is one of my top 5 games ever.

I wouldn't trust current Bioware with a mobile card game, let alone another Mass Effect.

Let. It. Die.

 

[Deleted member 2507]

bring back the RPG elements akin to the 1st one.

Click to shrink...

WHAT FUCKING RPG ELEMENTS?

People still claim it has those? Or is it just denial?

Stats in that game make no difference whatsoever, not to any practical effect. Most skill are utterly worthless (unless they're biotics which are OP as fuck). Most equipment is utterly worthless (SPECTRE gear or bust). Equipment modifications boil down to few useful ones and other being trash. No skill, charm and and intimidate aside, has any effect on the story or characters, and those two skills can be ignored for most part for no practical effect as well. Classes have no proper roles. Teammates are functionally basically identical, adding merely skills to be spammed, though why you'd bother outside biotics i cannot fathom.
There are no meaningful choices to be made in the system at all, beyond choosing to use biotics or not. How is adding 1% accuracy fun, interesting or meaningful? It is not, and i say this having played the game well over ten times on all difficulties and various "builds", culminating in one on hardest difficulty where i didn't bother with gear or skills.
It is not an RPG beyond that you take the role of Shepard, and it is a piss-poor shooter otherwise. Hell, it is, all things considered, pretty fucking bad game.

Mass Effect 2 and 3 are massively improved as games, both as shooters and as RPGs. Your ability choices have much more impact, and there are many meaningful and interesting builds to try out in both games, and all classes are distinctive. They're much, much more RPGs in this sense than ME1.

All ME1 has going on are perhaps a bit wider dialogue options and more freedom in going around the world... except that is an illusion. In reality, all dialogues truly boil down to two choices (no one remembers how or what else you said, in ME1 or later on)*, and the freedom to move about the world is largely irrelevant all things considered. Feels good, maybe, the first time, but afterwards you're left wondering why the devs bothered.

*EDIT And ME2 and 3 offer just as much choice. 2 choices, no more, very few exceptions aside.

 

[Syril]

Man I don't even know. I started ME1 again and was reminded how much I love the setting and attention to detail, but I really wasn't into the way the story ended up going in the sequels and can't think of anywhere to go from there that I would be interested in.

The only things I can think of that would actually be interesting to me anymore would be something super indulgent, seeing all the species' home planets that got little to no portrayal in the games, or super unrealistic, an alternate ME2 with a different main plot.

 

[Cross-Section]

Sequel that accommodates all three endings. Anything else would be a cop-out.

I'd imagine it'd be doable if they keep to the scope of 1-3, and not do some massive open-world shlooter like Anthem or ME:A.

 

[Mini-Me]

A trilogy remaster is about all I think EA and BioWare could handle without completely fucking it up. A different, more reliable/competent studio could maybe do exciting things with Mass Effect but I fundamentally do not believe BioWare can manage anymore.

 

[ZanderEzekial]

>implying Dragon Age is still alive at this point

Click to shrink...

I try to be hopeful in my doomsday rantings.

 

[UltraMav]

Xbox One X enhanced trilogy and "Mass Effect 4" starring not-Shepard, but still in the Milky Way and BioWare bites the bullet and declares one of the ME3 endings canon.

 

[Deleted member 27471]

Indoctrination theory. You wake up and play the real Mass Effect 3.

Better than anything they'll come up with.

 

[Lump]

Make one of the endings canon by releasing a trilogy remaster that democratically determines which ending is canon by counting the each finishing player's decision, and go with that for a sequel. Make it part f the marketing push - "decide which ending becomes the true ending and a new beginning for the series"

 

[Deleted member 34618]

I have zero faith in EA/Bioware's ability to ever make a noteworthy (for positive reasons) RPG again but if the IP ever ended up in the hands of competent developers I'd love to see a sequel and a proper fixed ending that doesn't do everything possible to torpedo the franchise. Prequels almost always suck and stuff like Andromeda may as well not even be mass effectit's so disconnected from the actual setting.

 

[mrpookles]

I know it's the unpopular opinion, but I genuinely want Andromeda 2. I think Andromeda, for a lot of it's missteps, did set up a lot of compelling threads to expand a trilogy upon. And I think if it was given another chance to right the ship and capitalize on the seeds it planted then we could be looking at a genuine classic. It just needs to focus more on the storyline and less on the open world, bigger is better mentality.

Click to shrink...

This. I'm invested and want them to see it through.

 

[Cross-Section]

I'll take an Andromeda 2 if the main thrust of the game is about getting back to the more-interesting setting, 1200 years later.

 

[trippyturtle]

They should make an Andromeda 2. Having thousands of pilgrims escape the Reapers in search of habitable planets is such a cool premise. All the while encountering planets being affected by the mysterious Scourge, and uncovering strange vaults containing the technology meant to fight it.

Being thrust into a strange universe filled with new aliens, planets, and history which'll take hours of playtime to understand is what Mass Effect is all about. And what they established in Andromeda has a lot of potential to flourish in a sequel.

 

[Holundrian]

I want more humanoid alien races. Another self insert space jesus. Lots of asset reuse to save budget and time like have 1 mirror planet even and a monochrome cliffhanger.

 

[EatChildren]

My quick 5c.

• Sequel to the trilogy. Construct a new 'canon' ending that is an amalgamation of concepts from the trilogy's various ending states, as neutral as possible, and set in a post-Reaper war Milky Way wherein the central narrative revolves around post-war depression and conflict arising from political and resource instability. Essentially exploring the core theme of each species trying to find their own galactic identity and place now the Reaper technology/threat has been exposed and expunged.
• No Shepard, no returning squadmates except in support roles. Familiar setting further developing is enough. Cast should still be predominantly fresh, to allow aforementioned themes to be explored, and for additional perspectives on the Reaper conflict.
• Returned to semi-confined mission structure of the trilogy, namely ME2/ME3. I personally prefer open landmasses and feel the series has a lot of potential to tell stories and evoke concepts with open empty space, but BioWare has not demonstrated an ability to leverage design strengths in this area, unfortunately, compared to more experienced developers. Go back to what they're good at.