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[DocSeuss]

Looking back on it now, my immediate reaction would have been to question where the new game will go gameplay wise. However, a producer’s job is to bring together multiple facets of the various teams in the studio, coordinate effectively between them, manage budgets, and oversee overall efficiency. While a knee-jerk reaction, thinking the high octane, heavy action gameplay from the Gears of War series would now become meat and potatoes of this new Mass Effect isn’t too unreasonable, but there’s no need to worry. Developers are adaptive and their ways of thinking can change from game to game. The Gears of War games were excellent in their own right and are among my favorite of the last generation, but the essence of what makes Mass Effect the series that it is are the deep characters, wonderful lore, and allure of the open galaxy.

Why would we worry about the possibility of a superior gameplay experience? Mass Effect has a great deal of combat, but it's nowhere near as deep, intelligent, or rich as Gears of War 3 was.

I would not at all mind it if Mass Effect had better combat.

eww super gross. The Garrus-type detective idea is a good one though. Smaller scale but rich with character interaction, that's what I want to see.

Waters literally listed the worst characters in the series. Seriously, he's terrible, get him off the franchise.

 

[doemaaan]

That's a whole lotta OP. Gonna get to it later.

 

[rudds]

Hell of an OP, had a lot of info I didn't know about. Love to see more stuff like this and that Halo 4 post-mortem on GAF.

 

[- J - D -]

Only things I need -

1. More involved interstellar travel. I'm talking near the level of No Man's Sky (unlikely, but man, that game and its contemporaries have really raised the bar for that kind of stuff).

2. Female Volus

Great work on the op, shinOP.

 

[Acosta]

Fantastic thread shinobi, thanks for it.

What I want:

No continuation, at all. Shepard is no more, and I don't want to see any other character from the original trilogy, not even Garrus. I want a refoundation of what Mass Effect was in the first game and for that I think it´s impossible to have any familiarity with the characters. Any other thing will be falling in the trap of comics, with characters being invented, destroyed, and reinvented again to the point of nonsense. There must be a new cast, full stop.

No "saving the galaxy" again for god's sake. Go for a big war if you must, but make something "grounded", "human", not another conflict with outworldly forces.

Much more exploration, in any form. I wouldn't actually mind some TES spice to go with the more cinematic experience. I don't need Mass Effect transformed in a sandbox, but I would enjoy having options like buying a house in Citadel, having some crafting/research and having more space to explore and discover outside of the main campaign.

Factions, please, and more tension between them, ask your pals at Obsidian how they do it.

 

[shinobi602]

You're welcome again guys

Why would we worry about the possibility of a superior gameplay experience? Mass Effect has a great deal of combat, but it's nowhere near as deep, intelligent, or rich as Gears of War 3 was.

I would not at all mind it if Mass Effect had better combat.

I agree that having better combat is something I'm hoping for too, in fact I think that's a given, as each subsequent game has improved on movement and positioning, gunplay, rolling, etc.

Just hoping it doesn't delve deeper into a strict third person shooter like the Gears games and instead increases biotic abilities and ranged offensive abilities.

 

[CrovaxPSO]

Go away, Mac Walters.

 

[The Silver]

I hope they actually plan this time and don't do anything stupid like put a suicide mission in the middle of the trilogy.

 

[EatChildren]

I spoke with Nirolak about this awhile ago, because I thought it was quite interesting, but there's an earlier rumour on Mass Effect 4 posted by a source that should be, based on their history, verifiable in the know. I'd like to post it here, not necessarily because I think it's accurate today, but because I think it warrants discussion.

The following contains spoilers for Mass Effect 3: Citadel. So be warned.

Back in February 2013 Gamefront posted an article covering the recent screenshots and release date for Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC. Just one of many pre-release media/news postings, with the DLC then scheduled for a March release. In the article's comments, again prior to Citadel had released, a user named Sachel posted:

This Single-Player DLC will center around two main events:
- The Discovery of Shepard’s clone, created through the Cerberus project.
- A large party involving all of your former crew mates from the entire Mass Effect series.
- The Pack will be split into two downloads because of the massive size.
- The Pack is also very humor focused, it’s something that is being called “A Fan service goodbye” .
- The part of the citadel unlocked after DLC completion is a Las Vegas style strip with an Arcade, Casino and Combat Simulator.

There is nothing in this DLC that will address anything in the main story and the ending at all. Citadel was specifically designed to have nothing to do with any outside the DLC story elements.

As we now know, all of this is 100% true. And given the specifics, it would be incredibly difficult to guess with such accuracy. There is no doubt that at this point in time, said user Sachel did indeed know the scoop on Citadel DLC plot and content details almost a month before it was formally released.

Curiously; backtrack to another Gamefront article, this time their thoughts on how to make Mass Effect 4 the best it can be, posted November 2012. This article was thus posted before the above, during the year of Mass Effect 3's release and the conclusion of the trilogy. Them, like many others, simply echoing their disappointments and what future they envision for the series.

Low and behold, this user Sachel had posted here too. And he had said:

This is what I know:

1) It is a prequel about the First Contact War between humans and Turians.
2) It is being developed by EA Montreal with no involvement from the western branch.
3) It Will be a first person shooter in the frostbite engine.
4) It will focus more on multiplayer/co-op.
5) It will “stream-line” the role-playing assets to be more inclusive to a wider audience.

6) As of February of 2013 BioWare Edmonton will be working on DA3 and an unnamed Project.

I’m sorry to anyone still scorned by the ending of Mass Effect 3.

Given the later Citadel DLC post and it's startling accuracy, surely this means Sachel is also accurate on what Mass Effect 4 is, right?

Here is what I think actually happened (Nirolak also believed something like this): Sachel was, at the time, or shortly before this time, correct. Look back at comments from Gamble, Hudson, and co shortly after Mass Effect 3's release when everybody was asking what future was in store for the franchise. Gamble and co routinely danced around confirming anything, but always returned to the idea of playing or experience historic Mass Effect lore events. Several examples were used, some reasonable and others not so, and the First Contact War was name dropped a number of times.

I would be surprised if during the tail end of Mass Effect 3's development and the post-launch period the plan was indeed for Montreal to work on a "spin-off" series that would disrupt the usual style of play. And so this First Contact War first person shooter may have actually existed.

Again, this all happened in the post-launch period. A lot happened during, and since, noticeably the gigantic backlash against the ending and implications that there would never be a trilogy "sequel". I doubt BioWare had any idea the negative response would be so extreme. Look towards polls, questionnaires, and so on, and you'll find some of the most commonly requested elements for a new Mass Effect is that "it's a sequel" and "playable aliens in campaign". A first person shooter set during the First Contact War is going to have a hard time providing these, along with many other elements iconic with the series. At the time, around September, BioWare was also opening their forums to suggestions and ideas for what people want from the series. This is a common marketing trick. It's not literally "tell us what game to make", but a way of gauging common and popular ideas, and thus what the fanbase expects or would be most excited for in the next game. If the product you're planning is lacking most or all of those features, it's time to reassess.

And I think that's exactly what they did. The demand for a prequel-like spin-off was low as fuck. BioWare and EA reassessed the situation, and realised they needed to make a proper Mass Effect game.

This is echoed by Yanick Roy, who mid-2013 would continually remind people that while they couldn't go into details just yet, the next Mass Effect would retain all the core mechanics and ideas that the series is known for. The things people loved. Walters would continue this by saying "It can’t just feel like a spin-off". Which is exactly what the rumour would suggest it is.

So yeah, I believe based on fan response to Mass Effect 3 and mining "ME4 suggestions" to gauge the best direction for the series, BioWare/Montreal did a 180 on their original plan to make a spin-off kinda-prequel.

EDIT: I can't for the life of me find the quote, but I swear there's an official statement from Yanick or Manveer on the forums, blog, or twitter wherein they pretty specifically note stuff like galaxy exploring, relationships, role playing, and so on as key components they assure are returning for ME4.

 

[shinobi602]

So yeah, I believe based on fan response to Mass Effect 3 and mining "ME4 suggestions" to gauge the best direction for the series, BioWare/Montreal did a 180 on their original plan to make a spin-off kinda-prequel.

And we're better off for it...jesus I can't imagine what they were thinking if that was the original outline for it. Every bullet point is literally the exact opposite of what I'd be looking for.

Given Sachel's pre-Citadel post was spot on, it's safe to conclude he/she was likely right on the money for the new game like you said. First Contact War? Quite the snorefest.

 

[Darmik]

I suppose I wouldn't mind an FPS spin-off prequel. But it would have to be an additive to a traditional game. Not a replacement. I would rather something a bit different than an FPS however. There are so many better and more interesting directions you could take the universe in.

For me the ideal scenario would be to have a traditional Mass Effect game every 2-3 years with a spin-off title developed in between. One that experiments with different genres and aspects of the universe. Shepard's story was so massive in scope. I'd love a few games that reign it back in a bit and focus on being as assassin like Thane or a C-Sec Officer.

I don't see it happening but I wouldn't mind if the series grounded itself a bit more. The original concept was 24 in space right? It would be pretty cool if instead of dealing with ancient evil alien races you were dealing with conspiracies and terrorist groups as a primary focus. Morally grey scenarios that really get you thinking about what is right and wrong. If they go with the Destroy ending they could quite easily make a complex story about a galaxy trying to rebuild itself while several different factions try to take advantage and become the top dog. I don't see how they could keep trying to one up the scale in the original trilogy. Which I'm sure they will do. The ending is so out there they've all ready made this very difficult for themselves. I have no idea if they expect to be able to constantly do this.

I love the universe. Mass Effect always seemed like the kind of universe where there are interesting stories happening everywhere. It's probably one of the only franchises where I would love to keep entering the universe and explore a completely different part of it. I hope they manage to find a good balance and find a way out of the corner they have backed themselves in.

 

[Sojgat]

Mac Walters is the lead writer again?

Fuck this game many moons in advance.

.

 

[HolyCheck]

Badassfully, I know what I want.

Blasto + Bubin.

 

[Karak]

Jesus christ on a candlestick that is a ballz deep OP. Amazing job.

As for Mass Effect. Could not care less. But dat OP is a thing of magic.

 

[mujun]

Great thread! Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[ElectricBlue187]

Waters literally listed the worst characters in the series. Seriously, he's terrible, get him off the franchise.

All the characters he listed are one dimensional evildudeguys (except Aria but she's already had her DLC) if Mass Effect 4 is just more of those dudes I want nothing to do with it

 

[angular graphics]

Excellent OP, but.. we really don't know nothing exciting about it so far.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Nicely done Shinobi, you know how to build hype

 

[Fruitster]

Excellent job Shinobi. Damn I wish Bioware would announce this game officially. A trailer, a couple of in game screenshots, anything! And Mac Walters, please, please no Cerberus - especially not Kai lame.

 

[flkraven]

Shinobi. Damn you for generating an exponentially large amount of hype, only to make me realize we are still 1.5+ years away from seeing this game. :*( I want it NOW!

 

[Garrus Vakarian]

I hadn't seen any of the images before, looks promising. Thanks for putting this OP together Shinobi, it is very much appreciated.

I'll keep a watchful eye on this for any new updates.

 

[shinobi602]

Excellent job Shinobi. Damn I wish Bioware would announce this game officially. A trailer, a couple of in game screenshots, anything! And Mac Walters, please, please no Cerberus - especially not Kai lame.

They will soon. Expect more news at GDC, and if not there, then 100% at E3

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Nice OP. I really enjoy the ME series and all of its wonderful lore.

 

[br3wnor]

Great post.

The ending of ME3 sucked, there's no other way to put it but people really need to remember the 120 hours of gameplay that came before it. The Mass Effect trilogy is probably the best video game trilogy ever released, bad ending aside. I still remember the first time I played through ME1 and how blown away I was. As a hugeeee sci-fi nerd, it was everything I loved about the genre put into RPG form. The setting, characters, dialogue etc. all were just fantastic. ME2 built on that and was the peak of the trilogy. ME3 was great as well but definitely faltered near the end.

I cannot wait for a new Mass Effect trilogy and am really excited for what they do with a next gen engine.

 

[Newboi]

This thread is awesome! Thanks OP!

I'm really hoping that ME4 follows more of a Star Trek route e.g. exploration, interplanetary politics, personal drama.

I still, to this day, never understood why the ME team got rid of the more in-depth RPG mechanics of the first game (even these weren't that complicated). I liked being rewarded for exploration with better armors, different armor weight types, weapon mods, weapon types, and the ability to be completely boss broken for putting in the effort. Having Heavy Colossus X armor, HMWA Master line X weapons, level 10 thermal mods and snowblind rounds...MEGA OP.

I also loved planet exploration from ME1. Yes, there was a lot of repetition, but it induced a lot of wonder.

I'm hoping ME4 is a sequel. I'd like to know what ramifications the reaper war had on the universe, even if its cryptic. Having the series take place a couple of hundred years after would be awesome.

I would really love if I could discover and explore new systems, contact new races, and do missions to incorporate the new races into the Citadel alliance, which would also allow for technological upgrades and faster travel to the newly discover systems.

 

[TC McQueen]

I still, to this day, never understood why the ME team got rid of the more in-depth RPG mechanics of the first game (even these weren't that complicated). I liked being rewarded for exploration with better armors, different armor weight types, weapon mods, weapon types, and the ability to be completely boss broken for putting in the effort. Having Heavy Colossus X armor, HMWA Master line X weapons, level 10 thermal mods and snowblind rounds...MEGA OP.

The reason why Bioware scrapped that system was because it sucked so bad that they couldn't fix it, plus it eliminated all choice when it came to guns and armor, because everyone aimed to get the Spectre gear and Colossus armor as soon as they could.

I also loved planet exploration from ME1. Yes, there was a lot of repetition, but it induced a lot of wonder.

Maybe at first, but it gave way to frustration thanks to the Mako's horrible Xbox controls, the insane geography, and the dearth of content available.

 

[Newboi]

The reason why Bioware scrapped that system was because it sucked so bad that they couldn't fix it, plus it eliminated all choice when it came to guns and armor, because everyone aimed to get the Spectre gear and Colossus armor as soon as they could.


Maybe at first, but it gave way to frustration thanks to the Mako's horrible Xbox controls, the insane geography, and the dearth of content available.

Thanks for the Prezi link. It's great to see a presentation from the team on why they did what they did.

I still think the inventory and armament system from ME1 was fine. It's just like any other RPG in that you had an increasing tier in quality of armor and armaments. I don't think it's bad that a player is rewarded for putting in extra time and effort into playing the game's side missions and exploring planets by giving them increasingly better equipment. You couldn't really get all of the best stuff until late game anyways.

When it comes to the Mako, I still think the concept of planet exploration was fantastic. It's not that the idea was poorly designed, it's just that the implementation wasn't fleshed out. The crappy resource mining mini-game in ME1 and ME2 definitely wasn't the answer to this.

I think having the ability to catalog new wildlife, fight dangerous wildlife, find ancient artifacts, and research elements to create new technology would provide great rewards for planet exploration. Maybe even design exploreable areas on planets that are smaller and have to be traveled on foot.

At least in ME1, Mako exploration wasn't necessary for the most part. It did have tangible benefits in helping you unlock cool items, finding ancient artifacts, and hidden side missions.

Edit: Overall, I think the Combat was really the aspect of the game that needed streamlining, not the RPG mechanics. The RPG mechanics got so streamlined after ME1 that they were almost unimportant to really sit down and customize yourself. They should have just moved to a pure auto level system that made your stronger with more experience and side mission. The armor customization in ME2 and ME3 was almost purely cosmetic as well.

 

[TC McQueen]

I still think the inventory and armament system from ME1 was fine. It's just like any other RPG in that you had an increasing tier in quality of armor and armaments. I don't think it's bad that a player is rewarded for putting in extra time and effort into playing the game's side missions and exploring planets by giving them increasingly better equipment. You couldn't really get all of the best stuff until late game anyways.

The idea of the reward system wasn’t bad, but it made no sense in the context of the franchise and the loot sucked anyway. There was literally no reason for Shepard to carry off hundreds of guns, armor suits, mods, and whatnot when he could just scan the damn thing and 3D print it back on the ship. And it didn’t help that in ME1, everything was a reskin of one of two meshes (outside of Geth stuff) or totally invisible (mods, amps, omnitools). ME3’s system was vastly superior not only because of the greater diversity of mods, but the fact that they actually had a visual effect and a visual stat increase.

I think having the ability to catalog new wildlife, fight dangerous wildlife, find ancient artifacts, and research elements to create new technology would provide great rewards for planet exploration. Maybe even design exploreable areas on planets that are smaller and have to be traveled on foot.

See, that’s something everyone can get behind.

Edit: Overall, I think the Combat was really the aspect of the game that needed streamlining, not the RPG mechanics. The RPG mechanics got so streamlined after ME1 that they were almost unimportant to really sit down and customize yourself. They should have just moved to a pure auto level system that made your stronger with more experience and side mission. The armor customization in ME2 and ME3 was almost purely cosmetic as well.

They did streamline the combat. They eliminated the nonsensical weapon skills that made it impossible to aim guns properly and made no sense in context of the story. As for the apparent lack of customization, that’s what happens when you get rid of dozens of invisible, incremental changes that the player will never see any indication of. If it doesn’t have a visible effect, you won’t know it’s even there to begin with unless you have perfect recall or record all your game footage to do comparisons. Players don’t really feel numerical differences, unlike the overall effect of damage, recoil, accuracy, and magazine on a gun.

 

[shinobi602]

I'm really hoping that ME4 follows more of a Star Trek route e.g. exploration, interplanetary politics, personal drama.

I also loved planet exploration from ME1. Yes, there was a lot of repetition, but it induced a lot of wonder.

I'm hoping ME4 is a sequel. I'd like to know what ramifications the reaper war had on the universe, even if its cryptic. Having the series take place a couple of hundred years after would be awesome.

I would really love if I could discover and explore new systems, contact new races, and do missions to incorporate the new races into the Citadel alliance, which would also allow for technological upgrades and faster travel to the newly discover systems.

I'm thinking we might get some of the ideas you brought up. If the leaks from that private fan panel were true (which by all indications they are), we might see some return to form of discovery and wonder:

"Intention to focus heavily on characters and choices and the idea to bring back the focus on exploration and discovery, with a goal to bring back the feeling of being “a stranger in a strange like Mass Effect 1"

 

[KillerDark]

Thank you OP for putting this together, was nice to see all this info in one place!

 

[flyinpiranha]

Awesome thread. I still need to finish ME3 (got the PC version but no controller support kind of sucked since I wanted to 'out' to my HDTV).

Mass Effect was probably one of my top 5 IP introduced this last year. I REALLY HOPE they open up the world for exploration. Having played AC, GTA, Witcher, Two Worlds II, Skyrim, etc ... a TRUE open world where it's not just FF style paths with "cool vistas" is what I really want. Might have to wait for Cyberpunk 2077 for that I guess.

 

[Dany]

Good OP. Super excited to see what comes from GDC or later on.

 

[Almighty]

Great OP Shinobi.

Anyway like all Bioware games I will be keeping my expectations very low and if Mac Walters is indeed still the lead writer they are at rock bottom.

 

[Senor Kami]

So we know for sure that it’ll play like the past games. It’ll be a third person shooter...

Ahh, I thought they were trying to switch things up. It would have been cool to see an Justicar game where you're Bayonetta/DMC/Ninja Gaideing it up and throwing people through walls with cutscene level biotics.

Oh well, still should be a fun experience. All I ask is that they give me a bad ass Asari assault squad. At some point in ME1 someone talks them up like they're unstoppable forces of death but I never came across one that was even decent. Liara's mom is the only combat capable Asari you meet in the entire franchise imo. Even on insanity they aren't difficult. I would love to battle a 3 person team with godly AI that's as difficult as some of the ME2 insanity parts like where you meet Ashley and those hovering platforms in the recovered Collector or Promethean base.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

I appreciate the work, OP.

That said, a sliver of me wants a new Mass Effect game. The rest of me tells me to avoid any future ME game like the plague. ME3 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I never revisited the series -- haven't touched a single piece of DLC for ME3 and likely never will.

 

[shinobi602]

ME3 left such a bad taste in my mouth that I never revisited the series -- haven't touched a single piece of DLC for ME3 and likely never will.

Ah that's too bad. Citadel is arguably the best DLC in the whole trilogy.

 

[eliza0224]

Hype reaching critical levels! Great post shinobi!

 

[Breemin]

Awesome thread!

I love all ME games, cant wait for the next gen ME to come out!! So excited!

I would love it to have an Online coop mode so I can play the campaign with a friend..

 

[Zombie James]

In the same conversation, Roy also confirmed that the new game would indeed play in the same vein as the previous trilogy.

Ehh, not good enough of an answer. If it's more like ME1 I'll check it out. If it's more like ME3 I won't.

 

[shinobi602]

Ehh, not good enough of an answer. If it's more like ME1 I'll check it out. If it's more like ME3 I won't.

What Yanick was almost guaranteed to mean were the gameplay mechanics of the game. It'll still be a TPS, it'll have biotics, a power/weapon wheel or some new form of it, dialogue system like the first three games, etc.

 

[Mindlog]

Garrus still sucks. A game about him would basically be the bad ending in ME2 where everybody dies.

Just hoping it doesn't delve deeper into a strict third person shooter like the Gears games and instead increases biotic abilities and ranged offensive abilities.

The one thing ME really needs to improve combat is bigger levels. ME:MP design can fill out the rest. Things like a smaller power pool and racial passives go a long way to improve existing SP combat. I've had far more fun with ME:MP than I ever did with Gears so I'm with you on avoiding that direction.

This is echoed by Yanick Roy, who mid-2013 would continually remind people that while they couldn't go into details just yet, the next Mass Effect would retain all the core mechanics and ideas that the series is known for. The things people loved. Walters would continue this by saying "It can’t just feel like a spin-off". Which is exactly what the rumour would suggest it is.

An interesting and plausible take on things. Can't stress enough how much the First Contact War would be a boring as fuck setting and how much first person is a mistake for the series. I was also skeptical of ME:MP and that turned out to be fantastic, but first person First Contact War sounds even worse! So it could have been great?

Coincidentally this was around the same time that the Star Wars deal was announced.

The reason why Bioware scrapped that system was because it sucked so bad that they couldn't fix it, plus it eliminated all choice when it came to guns and armor, because everyone aimed to get the Spectre gear and Colossus armor as soon as they could.

Yes! They've actually made huge improvements to itemization and I hope they keep with it. Wish they could dump the item levels as well, but concessions have to be made to please as many as possible.

Litter the battlefield with lore, reputation, credits and consumables. Move items to vendors, rare vendors and make them extremely expensive.

 

[Bisnic]

My wallpaper has been the first picture of the OP for months. Can't wait for the official first trailer/teaser. Hopefully it will be before E3, maybe GDC, but I know there is higher chances it will be E3.

Hoping my mind will be blown by the graphics.

 

[publicpwnerer]

You know what would be brilliant? A Mass Effect game set well after the mass relays were destroyed, and you're on board a ship stranded in deep space...trying to make the voyage home.

Tons of great sci-fi things to play with. A large crew with lots of politics and conflict. Pirates, raiders, primitive colonies and a couple of new, never seen before races.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

You know what would be brilliant? A Mass Effect game set well after the mass relays were destroyed, and you're on board a ship stranded in deep space...trying to make the voyage home.

Tons of great sci-fi things to play with. A large crew with lots of politics and conflict. Pirates, raiders, primitive colonies and a couple of new, never seen before races.

Okay, this + Firefly-inspired shenanigans would bring me back to the series.

I don't want any character coming back unless it's a super old/MILF Liara.

 

[Bisnic]

You know what would be brilliant? A Mass Effect game set well after the mass relays were destroyed, and you're on board a ship stranded in deep space...trying to make the voyage home.

Tons of great sci-fi things to play with. A large crew with lots of politics and conflict. Pirates, raiders, primitive colonies and a couple of new, never seen before races.

Too bad it wont happen since the Mass Relays weren't destroyed after all.

 

[TheFurizzlyBear]

You can just feel OP's love for Mass Effect ooze out of the post. I was fighting back a second trilogy playthrough but between this thread and hooking my 360 back up to play TWD: S2E1 I have been pushed over the edge. Great job Shinobi

 

[Lakitu]

Great OP, nice to have a place to discuss all the rumours too.

Am I insane in hoping they ditch the galaxy map and allow us to fly the ship around various systems / clusters while exploring? Then orbit around a planet I suppose and get all the necessary data.

 

[ChiliManiac]

Excellent thread Shinobi!

I'm super excited for the new Mass Effect game and as much as the departure of the Good Doctors could or could not have had on its development I'm certain that the series will evolve!

 

[EatChildren]

Just to throw it out there, here's what I want and what I think is reasonable.

- Canonically set after the trilogy, but not a trilogy "sequel". Sequel implies narrative continuity, and the trilogy dealt with a lot more than "Reaper War". Most of that will be left alone in favour of new stories.

- Pick or construct a canon and fucking stick with it. Don't pander to multiple ending possibilities, and don't try to be vague except in insignificant/minor areas easy to gloss over.

- Core theme of new game/series is exploration and discovery. "Frontier" stuff. Relays being reactivated in a post-Reaper universe. No real galactic threat, so a "golden age" of galactic exploration. This means new worlds, and new first contact with species that had previously been unknown to galactic society.

- Third person, traditional Mass Effect. Polish up the core mechanics, maybe add in a bit more customisation, but don't regress back to Mass Effect 1 style incremental bullshit loot upgrades. It's lazy and it doesn't work. Focus on bigger, core upgrades to equipment (like gun customisation).

- Bring back planet exploration in some form, specifically through larger levels. New console RAM/CPU ceilings coupled with Frostbite 3's ability to render large, densely packed levels should make this feasible.

- Go back to blurring the lines between encounter zones. Hide compartmentalisation. Make the "flow" between NPC conversations, hubs, combat, and exploration seamless and invisible. Just like Mass Effect 1, and to a lesser extent Mass Effect 2.

- Quit relying on "defend the area / defeat the waves" combat design. Omega did a better of this, so I think Montreal might "get it" better than Edmonton.

- Playable species in campaign. Pretty sure this will happen. Human/Turian/Asari are likely candidates and should be easy to do.

- Keep multiplayer simple. Don't convolute it. Don't try to turn it into some PvP monstrosity of bloated content and features. ME3's multiplayer worked because the core idea was simple as fuck and they just kept building new content for it without every straying from the fundamentals.

- If it's going to be a multi-game story, and you're not going to fully plan the entire trilogy/series, at least know your fucking limits and don't write yourself into a logistical corner like Edmonton did in all three fucking games. Stop writing in "big decisions" that sound good at the time but you know full well, for incredibly obvious logistical reasons, will never pay off in the long run. Be smart.

An interesting and plausible take on things. Can't stress enough how much the First Contact War would be a boring as fuck setting and how much first person is a mistake for the series. I was also skeptical of ME:MP and that turned out to be fantastic, but first person First Contact War sounds even worse! So it could have been great?

Coincidentally this was around the same time that the Star Wars deal was announced.

Right, a lot of stuff was happening at EA and BioWare at the time. Like any company they would have been throwing around ideas for Mass Effect's future before Mass Effect 3 shipped, if just very early pre-production conceptualisation. The kind of shit they were saying just after Mass Effect 3 launched compared to the stuff they were saying ~12 months later is pretty different. They went from "it could be a prequel, that would be interesting, who knows?" to "IT WILL BE A FAITHFUL MASS EFFECT GAME OH GOD".

 

[Newboi]

The idea of the reward system wasn’t bad, but it made no sense in the context of the franchise and the loot sucked anyway. There was literally no reason for Shepard to carry off hundreds of guns, armor suits, mods, and whatnot when he could just scan the damn thing and 3D print it back on the ship. And it didn’t help that in ME1, everything was a reskin of one of two meshes (outside of Geth stuff) or totally invisible (mods, amps, omnitools). ME3’s system was vastly superior not only because of the greater diversity of mods, but the fact that they actually had a visual effect and a visual stat increase.

Don't get me wrong, I definitely loved the fact that the customization of the weapons of ME3 was alot more visual and the different variations on available weapon types had actual visible differences. I guess the loot like RPG aspect of ME1 is more of a personal preference. I feel like both systems could be combined. I enjoy acquiring new loot. I love finding items that are more powerful, I also like being able to take all of the extra stuff I have or junk items and sell them off to better be able to afford newer/stronger weaponry. I'm not saying turn ME into Borderlands, but a system like this is more typical of an RPG in general.

I personally think another great addition to visualizing the damage output of your weapon would be displaying actual damage values on enemy hit. Even going in to ME3, the main thing that let me know my gun was stronger was the fact that the stat/item customization menu said it was (the same as ME1 in this case).

The heat based weapons were really enjoyable to me. It was different and highly rewarding when you could find or by new upgrades that reduced the heat generation of your weapon, which would allow it to fire faster and/or for longer. Even if there were story reasons that explained the switch to ammo based weaponry in ME2. It was still really jarring as it seemed like the weaponry devolved.

They did streamline the combat. They eliminated the nonsensical weapon skills that made it impossible to aim guns properly and made no sense in context of the story. As for the apparent lack of customization, that’s what happens when you get rid of dozens of invisible, incremental changes that the player will never see any indication of. If it doesn’t have a visible effect, you won’t know it’s even there to begin with unless you have perfect recall or record all your game footage to do comparisons. Players don’t really feel numerical differences, unlike the overall effect of damage, recoil, accuracy, and magazine on a gun.

Sorry if my wording was misunderstood. I didn't mean that the team didn't streamline and improve the combat, I was trying to get to the point that the combat was the main gameplay element that actually needed a massive revamp (especially in the departments of feedback and visceral feeling). The RPG mechanics from ME1 just needed tuning. The non-conversational RPG elements were so streamlined by ME3 that (though better than ME2), to me, it felt almost unnecessary to even give players the RPG like customization at all.

The exploration and RPG mechanics of ME1 are a large part of what made the franchise special in the first place imo. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed the franchise as much as I did if the gameplay and game structure started off playing exactly like ME2.

Overall, I understand what their team was trying to do and I understand where you're coming from. I mostly feel that the gameplay and game structure of ME1 didn't need a revamp (or streamlining), it needed to be expanded upon and more fully realized.

I deeply enjoyed all three titles though and love the series. I think I'll run back through all three again (well at least ME1 and ME3). I've replayed ME1 about 3 times, once before ME2 and twice after.