The Next Mass Effect

Zero-Cool

No idea of release date yet but hopefully not too many years off.

Dev said there's a lot to unpack in this trailer starting with the 2 galaxies shown at the start. Liara? Climbing a reaper, Mass Relay and N7, mention of Ark 6 (Quarian ark lost in Andromeda), colour me excited. Still need to finish Andromeda though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg-Ctg6k_Ao

ancapailldorcha

Mass Effect 3 dented my enthusiasm for the series to the point where I didn't even buy Andromeda.

If this gets great reviews, I might look into it but otherwise, I'm done with this series.

Kiith

Even with Andromeda not being that good, i'd still buy this in a second. Very happy to see Liara and the N7 badge at the end

Clearly a follow up to the original trilogy anyway, so it'll be interesting to see how they handle the "choice" at the end of the 3rd game. I assume they'll pick a canon ending, and just go with that? It'll be a long way off though, as they don't even have a name yet.

CatInABox

Kiith wrote: »

Even with Andromeda not being that good, i'd still buy this in a second. Very happy to see Liara and the N7 badge at the end

Clearly a follow up to the original trilogy anyway, so it'll be interesting to see how they handle the "choice" at the end of the 3rd game. I assume they'll pick a canon ending, and just go with that? It'll be a long way off though, as they don't even have a name yet.

I hope that they don't go down the route that Deus Ex took, Invisible War took all of the potential endings from DE and just mashed them together. That's a recipe to disappoint everyone.

Zero-Cool

That's the biggest question, what ending do they go with. They got away with it in Andromeda but will have to make some kind of a decision on this unless it's so far in the future (liara could be ancient) that they don't even mention the ending, who knows.

I just want Tali to be in it!

Mr Crispy

I guess the remaster of the originals isn't happening then, or they'd have teased something?

Kiith

It has to be the Destroy/Red ending. They'll retcon it so that not all synthetics were destroyed, and that was just the Reaper/Starchild trying to stop Sheppard from destroying them...or something like that.

Mr Crispy wrote: »

I guess the remaster of the originals isn't happening then, or they'd have teased something?

Remastered trilogy edition is being released in 2021. Was announced a few weeks ago.

Varik

In Kotor 2 Obsidian they left it ambiguous but in Old republic when bioware did that they made cannon choices for the important stuff even if that was set ~100 years after kotor. Although that might have been lucas, as there were a lot a kotor books and stuff so they might not have had a choice.

The good guys will win mostly everyone will be alive, and I'd guess that the ending choice will be not one of the real ones but something new where Shepard protects the galaxy from afar using the reapers without Deus Exing everyone.

Not much faith in this as it's more likely to be bad than good.

Mitch Connor

Mass Effect 3 was great, imo, until the final choice.
Andromeda was buggy, but a fun game imo. Not the Mass Effect I wanted though, didn't feel connected to the characters, stories, side quests as much.

Will look forward to this but would assume a 2023 launch - if it is in early stages.

Zero-Cool

Spoilers for ending of the trilogy

I forgot the Red Destruction ending asking with high enough war score means Shep survives so maybe that's canon.

Also, never copped it but dev confirmed that Liara (if it is Liara) is climbing up a snow covered Reaper in that shot in the trailer.

J. Marston

Big grin on my face when I saw Liara and the N7 logo.

Can't wait for it. Wonder how many of the old crew will be back and who will have been killed off.

Mr Crispy

Kiith wrote: »

Remastered trilogy edition is being released in 2021. Was announced a few weeks ago.

Cheers, I totally missed that (or forgot)!

Gbear

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited, but certainly not to the level of a day 1 purchase.

I thought Andromeda was a poorly made, poorly thought out game, but it wasn't totally devoid of redeeming qualities or unplayable, and I'm still pretty fond of ME3.

I'd be slightly leery of bringing back the original cast of characters. I'd be concerned that they'll be a crutch that Andromeda faltered without.

Kiith

As long as they bring back Liara. And Garrus...Wrex...Grunt...Legion...Tali. As long as they bring all of them back :P

Wonder if they'll do a search for Sheppard type story, where you play a new character. Have all the old squad come back at various points throughout the story.

Riddle101

Didn't realize it was Liara in the video. I actually thought it was a first look at a Quarian unmasked

In regards to what to do about the ending. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ME3 ending. Perhaps you will have the option to choose what choice you made in ME3 and each choice has a different timeline in the new game with different consequences.

So if you chose the destroy option, all robotic races like the Geth are gone and they won't feature in that timeline. They'll be mentioned during the course of the game but they'll be destroyed.

If you chose the control option, the Reapers are still around but there is lingering tension and animosity towards them which creates a tense atmosphere in the new timeline.

If you chose the synthesis option, all organic races are modified with cybernetic enhancements.

That's just a thought anyway.

ancapailldorcha

Kiith wrote: »

As long as they bring back Liara. And Garrus...Wrex...Grunt...Legion...Tali. As long as they bring all of them back :P

Wonder if they'll do a search for Sheppard type story, where you play a new character. Have all the old squad come back at various points throughout the story.

I don't know. Mass Effect 3 is nearly a decade old now. Is it really the best they can do to bump a story they soiled with such a dire ending.

I'd be much keener for something new. Maybe even something about the human-turian wars for instance.

Gbear

Riddle101 wrote: »

Didn't realize it was Liara in the video. I actually thought it was a first look at a Quarian unmasked

In regards to what to do about the ending. They really backed themselves into a corner with the ME3 ending. Perhaps you will have the option to choose what choice you made in ME3 and each choice has a different timeline in the new game with different consequences.

So if you chose the destroy option, all robotic races like the Geth are gone and they won't feature in that timeline. They'll be mentioned during the course of the game but they'll be destroyed.

If you chose the control option, the Reapers are still around but there is lingering tension and animosity towards them which creates a tense atmosphere in the new timeline.

If you chose the synthesis option, all organic races are modified with cybernetic enhancements.

That's just a thought anyway.

There's nothing they can't retcon themselves out of.

I think Destroy makes the most sense, because the other two would appear to have a certain degree of Utopianism built in - the biological and technological singularity for Synthesis, probably getting rid of much of the material needs of all species in the galaxy. Or Control, where there's now a controlled super-armada of death machines that would probably be a hell of a mcguffin for a series to revolve around, and certainly a gun to the galaxies head to ensure everyone keeps their noses clean. Basically it'd mean God exists and will smite anyone who steps out of line.

Both could well be interesting settings for sci-fi, but I'm not sure they'd fit the series.

They can just decide some Geth are fine, or all the Geth are fine, and come up with some technological/space magic reason why. They can even do it for the Reapers, although I'm not sure that'd be a good way to start off a new series (which I assume it would be). Not really sure what kind of enemy they could come up with that'd feel as grand as the Reapers, but also original. They tick a lot of boxes for horrible bad guys - Lovecraftian squidmonsters, who perform body-horror modifications on people, and are also utterly inscrutable, cold and uninterested in debate. They're a great many archetypes from Sci Fi - Chaos, the Borg, the Aliens, and no doubt many others, rolled into one. The Whatsitcalleds in Andromeda were a bit of a damp squib by comparison.

Kiith

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I don't know. Mass Effect 3 is nearly a decade old now. Is it really the best they can do to bump a story they soiled with such a dire ending.

I'd be much keener for something new. Maybe even something about the human-turian wars for instance.

I assumed the next game would be a prequel, during the Relay 314 Incident (lore nerd! :pac:), but glad they didn't. As much as i also want something new, i'd say they know that bringing back the old guard is a guaranteed way to get people invested.

Gbear wrote: »

There's nothing they can't retcon themselves out of.

This is what will happen. Sheppard went with Destroy ending, and the Starchild was only saying all synthetic life would die to try and trick him...turns out Edi and the Geth are just fine.

Adyx

The Leviathan race come back to take their place as the apex species. Conveniently they have the same mind control powers as the reapers. And look like them too.

Retr0gamer

More than likely that. Bioware can't do a story beyond copying game of thrones and the ancient evil returning that nobody wants to take seriously until it's too late. Every time.

ancapailldorcha

Adyx wrote: »

The Leviathan race come back to take their place as the apex species. Conveniently they have the same mind control powers as the reapers. And look like them too.

Basically the exact same story again with a slightly better possibility of a non-stupid ending.

Riddle101

Watched the video again. At 1:22 you can see Liara isn't alone.

I make out a Krogan, a Salarian, and possibly a Prothean in the distance. They could be just a random crew but if that is a Prothean it could be Javik.

Zero-Cool

Good vid here with hopes for the next ME. Agree with all of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cht-vjCvXB0

Zero-Cool

After finishing the trilogy again, 3 has sky rocketed imo. I loved every second of it, even the ending choice. Every mission added so much to the overall sorry and tied up all the loose ends that it just felt like the perfect finale. Choosing red i felt was the right way to go but couldn't help feel bad for Edi and the Geth especially as I managed to broker peace and love with the Quarians on Rannoch. I was so emotional involved from playing the trilogy back to back, 63 hours in total, that i was just completely hooked by every part of 3. I'm gonna spin up Andromeda and try plough through making sure to ignore the mindless fetch quests.

Vicxas

I think the DLC and fixes really improved it and its now probably my favourite game of the 3.

Riddle101

Something to consider about the next Mass Effect game. With Andromeda being colonized, could it lead to new technology being developed that would allow easy travel between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies? I feel like Quantum Entanglement could probably be the key to such a thing.

Gbear

Riddle101 wrote: »

Something to consider about the next Mass Effect game. With Andromeda being colonized, could it lead to new technology being developed that would allow easy travel between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies? I feel like Quantum Entanglement could probably be the key to such a thing.

ME:A takes place 2-300 years after ME3, so unless they include a huge time jump, it's unlikely anything will be included in the game.

Zero-Cool

Gbear wrote: »

ME:A takes place 2-300 years after ME3, so unless they include a huge time jump, it's unlikely anything will be included in the game.

A dev said both galaxies were shown for a specific reason in the trailer though, will be interesting to see what they do with it.

ItsHoggie

Zero-Cool wrote: »

A dev said both galaxies were shown for a specific reason in the trailer though, will be interesting to see what they do with it.

Had a read off of this the other day, she touches on how to two games could connect.

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.gameinformer.com/opinions/2020/12/23/the-next-mass-effect-and-what-a-tale-of-two-galaxies-could-mean%3famp

Zero-Cool

ItsHoggie wrote: »

Had a read off of this the other day, she touches on how to two games could connect.

https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.gameinformer.com/opinions/2020/12/23/the-next-mass-effect-and-what-a-tale-of-two-galaxies-could-mean%3famp

She has 9 playthroughs of Andromeda :eek:

Mitch Connor

Zero-Cool wrote: »

She has 9 playthroughs of Andromeda :eek:

without even looking at the URL, I knew exactly who was going to be the author of the article. that woman loves Mass Effect, to a potentially unhealthy level!

Kiith

Yeah, was thinking they may do a time jump, even though i'd forgotten that Andromeda was so far ahead of the original trilogy. Would allow for them to have a mostly fresh start, while still having certain characters from the first few games. Would be surprised if Sheppard isn't in it though...bit of a tease to have the N7 helmet and not have him/her.

I assume Destroy as the unofficial canon ending at this stage, right?

Riddle101

Gbear wrote: »

ME:A takes place 2-300 years after ME3, so unless they include a huge time jump, it's unlikely anything will be included in the game.

Andromeda is 600 years after the events of ME3, but who knows when the games will actually take place. Since Liara is an Asari, her long lifespan would actually explain why she is in the trailer and she would still be alive 600 years later. The question is how they would connect both games.

Although that being said, I'm sure Mass Effect fans would probably prefer a game that focuses on events straight after ME3 and get to see Shepard's crew again.

J. Marston

Liara, Wrex, Grunt and possibly Samara would still be around if it were 200-300 years later.

Possibly EDI too.

Zero-Cool

J. Marston wrote: »

Liara, Wrex, Grunt and possibly Samara would still be around if it were 200-300 years later.

Possibly EDI too.

I'd say Destroy ending will be canon seeing that Liara is climbing a dead reaper and if that's the case, EDI is gonzo as well unless the catalyst was bluffing, hoping Shep would pick synthesis.

They need a new Crew with some familiar faces, just have to make them more interesting than the Andromeda crew.

Gbear

Zero-Cool wrote: »

I'd say Destroy ending will be canon seeing that Liara is climbing a dead reaper and if that's the case, EDI is gonzo as well unless the catalyst was bluffing, hoping Shep would pick synthesis.

They need a new Crew with some familiar faces, just have to make them more interesting than the Andromeda crew.

They can fudge it however they like really. I doubt they'll kill off the Geth, blow up all the mass relays or whatever. They mightn't even kill off all the Reapers.

J. Marston

Finished Rannoch on ME3 and they mentioned how it'll be years before the Quarians can adapt to the planet but if this is set 200-300 years in the future we may see maskless Quarians.

ancapailldorcha

J. Marston wrote: »

Finished Rannoch on ME3 and they mentioned how it'll be years before the Quarians can adapt to the planet but if this is set 200-300 years in the future we may see maskless Quarians.

Hope there are enough stock photos.

Riddle101

J. Marston wrote: »

Finished Rannoch on ME3 and they mentioned how it'll be years before the Quarians can adapt to the planet but if this is set 200-300 years in the future we may see maskless Quarians.

You know it's funny, people are always curious about what Quarians look like behind their masks but I've always been more curious about the Volus myself. Wouldn't mind going down to the Volus homeworld and seeing what they look like without their suits.

Zero-Cool

Oooo new.... shiny

https://twitter.com/masseffect/status/1457467946461188100?t=O9U2FtFkMd4DhLezqywfkw&s=19

Retr0gamer

After Mass Effect 3 I think it's a stretch to call them the best fans in the world.

Zero-Cool

Can't believe i missed the giant Geth :)

I could never get into the first one. Too much exposition.

TheIrishGrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118134232#Comment_118134232

Well, it may not have been the first time that fans threw their toys out of the pram but it was certainly the first one I remember that was that vocal.

It is hard not to see their point however. After years of playing the games and making all your decisions over three games, the finale consisted of about 30 secs if different scenes followed by colour-shifter still picture snapshots :)

I never really gave Andromeda a chance. I bought it before all the patches came out which apparently improved it greatly but I never really took it past the first stage, it looked so bad *cough Cyberpunk 2077 cough*.

But I am looking forward to this. Just realised though. I will be at least 50 when this comes out....Jesus

Retr0gamer

Mass effect 3 had a disappointing ending but was a fine game up to that point. I've been way more disappointed with game endings though and mass effect was hardly the pinnacle of great writing in videogames. Just seemed like nerd rage to me.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118134232#Comment_118134232

Sigh; like most things in life, the pushback against the ending was a sentiment ruined by the most extreme and vocal minority who confirmed all the worst stereotypes of modern gamers. The ending was garbage - but primarily because the nature of the games was as a trilogy of character stories and arcs. They asked the players to invest emotional energy into liking, following and caring about an interesting cast of sapients (except the human ones, as is often the case with these SciFi tales). The "pick a colour" endings was a huge gear change that undercut the work the whole series invested.

And as a teacher once said to my class: a story can survive a bad start, but it can never survive a bad ending.

Now, that in no way shape or form justifies the Crunch, stress and hardships Bioware found themselves under to deliver that Extended Cut; all to justify the aforementioned crowd of neckbeard shítheads casually airing their 1st World Problems.

The Mass Effect universe is worth returning to though; I just wonder if the "best" solution is not to go back to another sprawling epic, and focus on smaller, more tightly-focused adventures. There would doubtless be social media whining that it wasn't exactly what was expected - but after Andromeda perhaps it's better to build something robust, and expand out over sequels or spin-offs.

Kiith

Just give us Mass Effect 3 multiplayer again...that was (surprisingly) fantastic.

Potential-Monke

Hopefully we won't have to have played Andromeda for this next one. Still have to play the remaster trilogy, hopefully coming to EA Access next year. But I do hope the next one is as good as my memory of the trilogy. Take their time, make something amazing. I can wait.

Icyseanfitz

Bioware have me expecting very little at this stage, just another EA subsidiary now

pixelburp

On a related note, appears like Amazon are looking at adapting Mass Effect as a TV series.

One of the company’s newest hopefuls in the arena is Mass Effect. Amazon Studios is nearing a deal to develop a series based on the best-selling sci-fi video game franchise from Electronic Arts.

https://deadline.com/2021/11/the-wheel-of-time-premiere-ratings-amazon-prime-video-mass-effect-lort-of-the-rings-jennifer-salke-qa-1234879517/

Zero-Cool

Could be amazing if done right, will most likely be done wrong but damn I'd love to see a series showing the discovery in Mars and zipping through to the first contact war.