Mass Effect 4 (?)

degrassinoel

There's an announcement here,

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/11/12/an-update-from-bioware-montreal/


this is about halfway down, not sure what to make of it yet, but it's definetly in development.

That evolution now takes its next step, with the news that the next Mass Effect game is already in development, driven by the team here in Montreal. This is the goal we have been working toward for years now, and every member of our team is proud, excited, and humbled to take on the responsibility for the next game.

To ensure a proper and effective transition, we’ll continue to be supported by the Edmonton studio through the game’s development, working with and learning from them on some critical initiatives. On top of that, Casey remains the Executive Producer, but he will have a Project Director under him, working in Montreal, leading our development team and making day-to-day decisions for the game. We all care very much about Mass Effect and make our decisions based on what’s best for the game.

There is really not much I can tell you about the game right now, except that it will be built with the amazing technology of Frostbite as its foundation, enhanced by many of the systems that the Dragon Age III team has already spent a lot of time building.

The other thing I can tell you is that, while it will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts. You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling.

Mal-Adjusted

meh...

Varik

EA are really trying to get their moneys worth from the frostbite engine.

calex71

Who knows, we might actually get a RPG this time :rolleyes:

jamezy

Im looking forward to it myself. I was among the millions disappointed by the ME3 ending, but i loved almost every second of ME3 up to the ending. The Bioware guys have created a great universe here with the potential for great stories and gameplay and i for one really like the action/RPG mechanics of the game (although it could use a little more RPG-ness but that is just a personal preference).

I just hope the don't make a mess of it...

Local-womanizer

It's a universe that has such potential so it does. There is so much they could do with it.

I would like to see a complete new set of characters.

Canis Lupus

ME4 in production? Well, I never.

I still haven't completed 3.

Josey Wales

One thing I hope they avoid is doing a prequel. I want to see a universe that is coming to terms with the events in ME3.

pablomakaveli

I suppose its just EA milking this cash cow for what its worth. But i have to admit i enjoy the mass effect universe and it would be a shame to abandon a richly detailed universe with such great potential for more great stories.

KilOit

I would buy a wrapped up turd if it had a mass effect logo on it!
Love the series

Kiith

Yeah, even with the disappointing ending, the series itself is one of my favourites. Some absolutely fantastic moments in the games. I kind of hope that they tone it down a bit though. Would prefer a more personal story, rather than an end of the galaxy type story.

Although that didn't work so well with Dragon Age 2

BizzyC

Hopefully they do a good job.

Personally I'd like to see a choice of playable characters.
Let me run through that universe as a Krogan or a Turian...

noodler

Josey Wales wrote: »

One thing I hope they avoid is doing a prequel. I want to see a universe that is coming to terms with the events in ME3.

I am the complete opposite, I think the past material hinted at in ME1-3 is way too interesting to ignore. I also think prequel games can benefit from a narrower focus and the story is ultimately helped and shaped by the fact there is a pre-determined end point.

I'd love to see:

1) Prothean-Reaper War

2) Early Human War with the Turians

Mal-Adjusted

noodler wrote: »

pre-determined end point.

That wouldn't seem to fit with the whole "you're choices matter" that the series is (rightly or wrongly) lauded for.

nerd
Also, I think it was called the First-Contact War.
/nerd

noodler

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

That wouldn't seem to fit with the whole "you're choices matter" that the series is (rightly or wrongly) lauded for.

nerd
Also, I think it was called the First-Contact War.
/nerd

Meh, you choices can all matter up to a point.

I don't think that a point of principle such as that should prevent a great game being made!

Dave_The_Sheep

noodler wrote: »

2) Early Human War with the Turians

If they were going to do a prequel, this is likely what would be focused on. You have the beginnings of the Illusive Man, humanity's first contact with another species, the Turians doing their police action thing. You'd have both land and space sections of the war. Saren, Anderson and a few others could also be involved.

Shephard couldn't be involved, as he/she'd only be an infant at the time.

degrassinoel

Shepard would have been in his/her late teens at the start of the first contact war, at least old enough to have enlisted in the military i think.


Edit: i'm way off, he/she was 3 years old at the outbreak. http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/First_Contact_War
Shep was born in 2154 according to the wiki

degrassinoel

some more info on what's in the pipeline

"Fans can expect a similar style of choices and action that they've come to know in Mass Effect. Casey Hudson is very much involved in the new Mass Effect game, as well as many from Edmonton. BioWare Montreal is a great studio and they did fantastic with the multiplayer for Mass Effect 3, so fans should know the series is in good hands," they said.

"You'll hear more about the new Mass Effect game in 2013."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/383410/mass-effect-4-release-date-late-2014-to-mid-2015-bioware-dev/

Potential-Monke

As long as it has deep impacting characters like Legion, Mordin, Thane, etc, i'll be happy!

Mr Freeze

I was such a huge Mass Effect 1 fan, ME2 was still great, I let the watered down RPG pass. But ME3 has left a bad taste in my mouth, and now I don't feel one bit excited about any new ME game. Pity.

calex71 wrote: »

Who knows, we might actually get a RPG this time :rolleyes:

ya, probably not.

balkieb2002

I enjoyed the Mass Effect gameplay in the 3 games (although it was quite different the further you went in the series) but to me they were just a way of progressing the story.
The story and the characters of the ME world were the real reason I loved the trilogy so if they can come up with a new story or even better build on a older story with the same level of detail I'll be quite happy with a new game.

hooradiation

Goddamn it, now I'll never get the Wrex and Garrus buddy cop game that I've wanted for so long.

I guess another fantastic game set in the ME universe will have to do....

degrassinoel

hooradiation wrote: »

Goddamn it, now I'll never get the Wrex and Garrus buddy cop game that I've wanted for so long.

I guess another fantastic game set in the ME universe will have to do....

Blasto!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQFF5crvydg

degrassinoel

double post.

Zillah

It's going to be an MMO. I can feel it coming, the way an old woman can sense the weather changing, or a dog can sense its master leaving for home...I feel the dark shadow of a Mass Effect MMO descending on us.

And I am afraid.

Monty - the one and only

has already been stated by mike gamble, that me4 has only been in development for 2 months, more likely to see it in 2014 or 15.

[edit] ill get a quote when Im out of work.

super_furry

I'd love to see a game set straight after Mass Effect 3. The Mass relays have all been destroyed - this technology that was the basis of an intergalactic civilization are no more and the majority of that civilization are now stranded around earth. The conflict over sparse resources, the need to find a solution to the mass relay problem and the threat of a civil war are all great points to kick off from.

noodler

super_furry wrote: »

I'd love to see a game set straight after Mass Effect 3. The Mass relays have all been destroyed - this technology that was the basis of an intergalactic civilization are no more and the majority of that civilization are now stranded around earth. The conflict over sparse resources, the need to find a solution to the mass relay problem and the threat of a civil war are all great points to kick off from.

I'd positively hate that.

Anyway, the Mass Relays are well on the way to being repaired in the endings.

Zillah

super_furry wrote: »

I'd love to see a game set straight after Mass Effect 3. The Mass relays have all been destroyed - this technology that was the basis of an intergalactic civilization are no more and the majority of that civilization are now stranded around earth. The conflict over sparse resources, the need to find a solution to the mass relay problem and the threat of a civil war are all great points to kick off from.

Yeah, no, the new endings show them getting repaired, so thankfully this scenario won't play out. If they stuck to the lore then Earth would starve horribly as it was hugely dependent on interstellar imports, as were the majority of urban worlds.

super_furry

Zillah wrote: »

Yeah, no, the new endings show them getting repaired, so thankfully this scenario won't play out.

Huh? Sweet Jesus, Bioware are just.....ugh. The one interesting thing about that ending that they just tipex over it.

balkieb2002

Monty - the one and only wrote: »

has already been stated by mike gamble, that me4 has only been in development for 2 months, more likely to see it in 2014 or 15.

[edit] ill get a quote when Im out of work.

Gamer Syndrome wrote:

"As far as release date, there's nothing to be announced yet. You'll hear more about the new Mass Effect game in 2013."

When pressed on the release date, Gamble said: "Late-2014 to mid-2015. I honestly can't tell you an exact because full development on the game started a month or two ago."

Full interview here.

::EDIT::

Actually just checked the site where these quotes are meant to have originated saw this:

UPDATED DECEMBER 12: This interview has been removed. The information provided previously by the author of this post was deemed to be obtained from an inaccurate source and NOT an official Bioware or EA interview response. We apologize for the inconvinience.

No idea on when the game will be released but should at least have some more information next year!

Varik

Zillah wrote: »

Yeah, no, the new endings show them getting repaired, so thankfully this scenario won't play out. If they stuck to the lore then Earth would starve horribly as it was hugely dependent on interstellar imports, as were the majority of urban worlds.

A lot of people are dead, they're not going to need too much food for those that are left.

Gunmonkey

i dont envy the ME4 writers trying to come up with a story, a prequel would be easier but the whole thing would disolve into one huge foreshadowing of the original trilogy:

"Oh look, some ancient text describing the Reapers...what are those....oh well, not important to us"

"Haha silly Krogan, you cant have kids hahahaha"

"Humans....pfah, they will never get on the council"

Then if they set ME4 after ME3, they got the great setting of a galaxy turned on its head:

-Relays were just knocked out according to the extended endings but still take years to get the network back online, how would some systems react to isolation for so long (pocket governments springing up...or even local dictators or military coups imposing martial law)
-Krogans on the rise and now having to curtail the "Alpha male" violence required before....or embracing it.
-Quarian/Geth war solved (and then the Geth alive or dead depending on various choices and the Destroy ending)
-Quarians no longer need to go on pilgrimages or keep it up as a tradition and now not a migrant people so could be treated better or old hatreds hard to drop
-Personnaly, would like to see an almost religious cult develop around Shepard as "The Shepard", intresting way to analyse faith and devotion in a world of science

But then they also will have to canonise a set of choices (is Wrex alive? did anyone die on the suicide mission? were the Krogan cured or did the sabotage work? are the geth, Quarians or neither alive?) as well as picking one ending and having the fanbase erupt again with "...but I chose the Synthesis ending, make the game start from that", the only alternative being diluting the story down to have 5 or 6 weaker storylines than one or two based on gameplay rather than "what you did 7 years ago in ME1".

Look forward to the game either way.

I-Shot-Jr

Varik wrote: »

A lot of people are dead, they're not going to need too much food for those that are left.

I dunno, we've a proven ability to sort that issue out sharpish.

degrassinoel

Zillah wrote: »

It's going to be an MMO. I can feel it coming, the way an old woman can sense the weather changing, or a dog can sense its master leaving for home...I feel the dark shadow of a Mass Effect MMO descending on us.

And I am afraid.

cant see them doing that after swtor was a complete and utter bomb after it's first month

super_furry

Yeah new MMOs are dead in the water. We won't see another major new one until Blizzard decide to go live with their project.