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[BrassDragon]

I bet it follows a research team, or a part of a fleet that gets stranded in a rarely visited or unexplored system in an area following the disabling of the Mass Relays. The Devs already said that the game would mainly focus on what, three planets, and the Mako was your means of getting from point to point on the planets.

I didn't know this... do you have a source handy?

Also, some in this thread are acting as if a new Galaxy has already been confirmed - has it?

 

[Nirolak]

ME3's MP was so good that no minded the microtransactions because they just kept playing matches and grinding for the in-game currency. That said, ME4's MP needs to avoid DA:I's "three maps and kinda shit MP with microtransactions" at launch.

I get why Mass Effect's multiplayer launched as if it were an early access title, but DA:I confuses me a lot more on that front.

I wonder if they were pulling people off that content to finish the main game, since they implied it's been made for quite a while but feels like it was made in eight months.

Perhaps "a long time" was like two people working on it and then rushing out the rest.

 

[dancrane212]

Hi.
This topic was the reason I joined NeoGAF. Please LOVE ME SpaceGAF!


So, TheGameAwards is pretty close. What's the chances of EA announcing (full reveal) NewME at the event?

I think we're most likely to get a cryptic CG teaser ala Mass Effect 2 if we get anything at all. I doubt we'd get a full unveiling of the game there.

It would be nice to have an official name to start calling this game by the end of the year.

 

[FoeHammer]

Has there been any real indication of a possible remaster to the new consoles or just wishful thinking?

 

[Patryn]

Only if you speed-run through it. I usually take my time with everything, exploring every nook and cranny. Not sure how much I did with the main story, but the last time was 55 hours with everything, so I assume that's a very solid amount of time for the main story.

In perspective: I recently played ME1 for the first time and I finished the main story in exactly 16 hours. I wanted to leave the majority of the side quests after I was done, but apparently there's a point of no return.

For ME2, only the following are the main story missions:

- Cerberus Medical Facility
- Freedom's Progress
- Horizon
- Collector Ship
- Dead Reaper
- Suicide Mission

They count as main story mission in that they are the only missions that revolve solely around advancing the main narrative.

There is an argument that the recruitment missions for Mordin, Garrus, Jack and Grunt are main story in that Horizon is not unlocked until you recruited those four, however they do not push forward the central narrative and are instead self-contained mini-stories (likely a relic of the original design where all the recruitment missions were immediately available after Freedom's Progress, and not just that subset).

However, the Collector Ship unlocks after approximately 5 missions (including N7 missions) after Horizon, and the Reaper IFF unlocks immediately after the Collector Ship. And, naturally, the Suicide Mission unlocks shortly after the Reaper IFF.

So you can easily complete Mass Effect 2 in around 10 hours, but I doubt you're going to have a good time or get a viable result.

 

[Poodlestrike]

ME3's MP was so good that no minded the microtransactions because they just kept playing matches and grinding for the in-game currency. That said, ME4's MP needs to avoid DA:I's "three maps and kinda shit MP with microtransactions" at launch.

ME3 also offered a lot more variety than DA:I does at launch, or at least it did a better job of hiding the fact that it didn't behind the various weapon tiers and rarities. A lot of the DA:I loot is kinda samey.

 

[teiresias]

I actually just quit the first ME on PC out of frustration - and honestly a bit of boredom. I got out of the Citadel and suddenly was losing every firefight I got into. I probably just suck at the game, but I couldn't get enough money to afford better weapons or armor, and the looted weapons and armor was never better (and selling it didn't net me enough profit).

I went around the galaxy and explored a few planet surfaces using vehicles, but inevitably if I went into any mine or anything an encountered (which always ended up being Geth) I'd be dead.

I also then went to Noveria and played through the story there for a while and got to the point where I needed to find some evidence in some guy's office. Well, I was happy enough that I was able to make the dialog choices to get the guards to leave, thinking that was nice to avoid a firefight . . . and then it throws me into a firefight anwyay. Lame.

I finally decided the story wasn't engaging me enough at that point to continue and I found my squad members to be absolutely stupid and getting themselves killed all the time.

I may try again a little later or if there's a remaster released for consoles (though I have both ME1 and ME2 on Steam via a sale, so they're sitting in my backlog unplayed).

 

[Bisnic]

I didn't know this... do you have a source handy?

Also, some in this thread are acting as if a new Galaxy has already been confirmed - has it?

They never said that three planets focus thing, I'm pretty sure. I don't know where he heard that.

I actually just quit the first ME on PC out of frustration - and honestly a bit of boredom. I got out of the Citadel and suddenly was losing every firefight I got into. I probably just suck at the game, but I couldn't get enough money to afford better weapons or armor, and the looted weapons and armor was never better (and selling it didn't net me enough profit).

I went around the galaxy and explored a few planet surfaces using vehicles, but inevitably if I went into any mine or anything an encountered (which always ended up being Geth) I'd be dead.

I also then went to Noveria and played through the story there for a while and got to the point where I needed to find some evidence in some guy's office. Well, I was happy enough that I was able to make the dialog choices to get the guards to leave, thinking that was nice to avoid a firefight . . . and then it throws me into a firefight anwyay. Lame.

I finally decided the story wasn't engaging me enough at that point to continue and I found my squad members to be absolutely stupid and getting themselves killed all the time.

I may try again a little later or if there's a remaster released for consoles (though I have both ME1 and ME2 on Steam via a sale, so they're sitting in my backlog unplayed).

Have you tried just lowering the difficulty if you keep dying? I usually play on Normal and it's good enough for me.

 

[Guri]

I actually just quit the first ME on PC out of frustration - and honestly a bit of boredom. I got out of the Citadel and suddenly was losing every firefight I got into. I probably just suck at the game, but I couldn't get enough money to afford better weapons or armor, and the looted weapons and armor was never better (and selling it didn't net me enough profit).

I went around the galaxy and explored a few planet surfaces using vehicles, but inevitably if I went into any mine or anything an encountered (which always ended up being Geth) I'd be dead.

I also then went to Noveria and played through the story there for a while and got to the point where I needed to find some evidence in some guy's office. Well, I was happy enough that I was able to make the dialog choices to get the guards to leave, thinking that was nice to avoid a firefight . . . and then it throws me into a firefight anwyay. Lame.

I finally decided the story wasn't engaging me enough at that point to continue and I found my squad members to be absolutely stupid and getting themselves killed all the time.

I may try again a little later or if there's a remaster released for consoles (though I have both ME1 and ME2 on Steam via a sale, so they're sitting in my backlog unplayed).

It may just be because it is not your type of game and that's OK. I don't think the issue is that you didn't have good enough weapons, since the game wasn't designed that way (at least not so early). But I wouldn't force since you weren't enjoying it.

 

[prag16]

For ME2, only the following are the main story missions:

- Cerberus Medical Facility
- Freedom's Progress
- Horizon
- Collector Ship
- Dead Reaper
- Suicide Mission

They count as main story mission in that they are the only missions that revolve solely around advancing the main narrative.

There is an argument that the recruitment missions for Mordin, Garrus, Jack and Grunt are main story in that Horizon is not unlocked until you recruited those four, however they do not push forward the central narrative and are instead self-contained mini-stories (likely a relic of the original design where all the recruitment missions were immediately available after Freedom's Progress, and not just that subset).

However, the Collector Ship unlocks after approximately 5 missions (including N7 missions) after Horizon, and the Reaper IFF unlocks immediately after the Collector Ship. And, naturally, the Suicide Mission unlocks shortly after the Reaper IFF.

So you can easily complete Mass Effect 2 in around 10 hours, but I doubt you're going to have a good time or get a viable result.

I count Mordin's recruitment as a main mission because there's a plot related reason you NEED him before going to Horizon. But I definitely agree with regard to the others. However the structure didn't really bother me; I still found myself compelled to compete most loyalty missions, even in replays.

 

[Lethe82]

The events of the original trilogy are done with. It would be a mistake to go back, rather than start afresh - BioWare knows this.

I agree, but they have been emphasizing that this is not Mass Effect 4 right? In the same way that they said the new Dragon Age: Inquisition game is not Dragon Age 3 (in fact they even said that Inquisition will not carry forward to whatever Dragon Age 3 is, Inquisition is kind of like a capstone on the DA1-2 'world').

They may have some ideas how to work through the abhorrent mess that was the end of Mass Effect 3, and we'll probably see some of that in this new game, but everything they have mentioned so far leads towards the idea that this game will be a bottle episode, and frankly I don't blame them.

I didn't know this... do you have a source handy?

Also, some in this thread are acting as if a new Galaxy has already been confirmed - has it?

They never said that three planets focus thing, I'm pretty sure. I don't know where he heard that.

Prettyy sure it was when they revealed the new Mako etc. Will dig it up to confirm, but going to crash fora few hours first (I work night shifts atm).

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Has there been any real indication of a possible remaster to the new consoles or just wishful thinking?

Aaryn Flynn did mention the remaster in a tweet not too long ago, he said something like "once they have something to share, we'll be the first to know" in direct reference to a next-gen (current gen) remaster of the trilogy.

 

[prag16]

Aaryn Flynn did mention the remaster in a tweet not too long ago, he said something like "once they have something to share, we'll be the first to know" in direct reference to a next-gen (current gen) remaster of the trilogy.

He even showed up on gaf and asked people what we would want in a remaster if they did do one.

Many people here took that as 100% confirmation that this is in the works, though I'd personally stop short of assuming it's a guarantee.

 

[thechristoph]

First of all thanks to the people who answered me some pages ago.
I'm playing ME3, I'm near the end, just before Priority: Cerberus HQ, I just finished The Citadel DLC wich was truly awesome.

The game is good, there are some stupid things, but there are great things too, but I liked ME2 much more. Toughts:

Glad you're enjoying it. The thing about the Citadel DLC is that it makes you want to play the saga again and again with different permutations of your party. It's a fantastic crescendo.

- What's the point of James Vega? Did Bioware want to write a walking stereotype? There's nothing interesting about him, his introduction scene with the "boxing match" was so bad I though I was playing the wrong game. But you know what's the worst part? He is basically the replacement of your Krogan squad mate, why the hell did they go with him? I'm pretty sure everybody loves Krogans. I talked to him at the end of every mission, he acts and remains a stereotype.

I don't see James as a stereotype at all. He grows a lot. He has a very similar backstory to Sole Survivor Shepard. There are some very great moments with his character arc if you put the time in with him.

- What's the point of Diana Allers? She's completely useless, she doesn't have anything interesting to say, she looks and is completely out of place, why not use Emily Wong instead of killing her?

The galaxy is being invaded. Friends, familiar faces, and places you used to know are gone or destroyed. Allers sucks for sure, but I don't mind Wong being dead.

- My biggest gripe is the team, why no Legion? Why no Kasumi? Why no Krogan? Why no Salarian? Why no Drell? Random Vorcha >> James Vega. It's such a disappointment coming from ME2. EDI is a great character, but was the sexbot pandering really necessary?

Legion was busy. Kasumi has her own goals. The Krogan are at war. The Salarians are up to shady stuff. I think it would have been lame if it was just pick up and go from ME2. Maybe if ME3 had a different setting and backstory, then Shep can get the band back together again like a good space cowboy, but operations are being put together in a very hurried manner (perhaps a metaphor for the dev cycle?).

Agreed on EDI. I liked the arc of giving her a body, but THAT body...it's actually kind of embarrassing. She has an armored-up alternate appearance in one of the DLC costume packs that I use for combat, and I used a mod to replace her texture in the casual sequences.

- It definitely lacks the sense of wonder and discovery found in ME1 and to a lesser extent in ME2, it makes sense because of the story, but I understand why people were disappointed.

The evolution of the series doesn't lend itself to every game being the discovery sandbox. I know you get this, but it seems like very few of ME3's detractors do. ME1 was a manhunt. Scour every inch of the galaxy to find your target. ME2 was putting a team together. Hit up some of the seedier parts of the galaxy and get into some dirt. ME3 is all about being on the ropes, slapping a plan together, and taking potshots when the enemy drops their guard.

- As for the story I think the main plot is more believable and reasonable than the silly ME2's one, some of the emotional parts are well done, like Mordin's sacrifice and the Thessia failure, meeting your old companions was awesome. Some parts were bad: the dreams, the Kai Leng character. The story works because it's pretty simple. Well I still need to see the ending, but I'm prepared, I played Leviathan and I think we are already past the silly scale, it's like Assassin's Creed's sci-fi story, middle school mumbo-jumbo.

The dreams were hamfisted for sure. I liked Kai Leng to an extent, I think it would have been better if he was introduced in ME2 as TIM's Boba Fett; his insurance policy in case things with Shepard don't go the way he wants them to. Kai Leng had a lot of potential.

- The Citadel is really the best DLC ever made.

Hell yes.

I think the series should be more about Space adventures with your friends and less about Saving the galaxy. You don't need to Micheal Bay your game to sell better, that's what the top brass think but it's not the truth.

I completely agree with you here. I think a few of the setpieces of the series could make very excellent games of their own. Yeah, they'd be much lower-stakes, but who cares? The hostage situation in Bring Down the Sky. The assault on Dantius Towers. Virmire. The stuff that happens on Omega in 2 and 3. Flesh these things out a little more and they could be just plain awesome adventures that don't have you saving the entire universe.

 

[shinobi602]

 

[Lethe82]

I didn't know this... do you have a source handy?

Also, some in this thread are acting as if a new Galaxy has already been confirmed - has it?

Via tweets about the panel:
twitter.com/NerdAppropriate
twitter.com/andrearene/

I'm tried to put non-obvious details/newer stuff near the top of the list.

Details:
-The Mako is back, they showed video of it, and there are images of it below. It's apparently quite fast now.
-"Building a game about exploring places (planets), so you need a vehicle for that "
-"We learned some things about vehicle frustration"
-They showed off armor renders, viewable below
-"Sounds like the timeline of #MassEffect will be during Shepard's lifetime but won't involve Shepard...hard to tell @gamblemike being cagey!" [Note: Two other tweeters said it sounds like it takes place in another galaxy, though that's not necessarily mutually exclusive with this.]
-"Team reiterates that it is not Shepard's story and that this story one is brand new."
-"no timeline was announced at the panel. Some hints were made but I have to re-listen to the audio."
-"You will see a bit of old with the new (old characters MAY appear) "
-"Competition is critical but cooperation is bigger for us" @gamblemike speaking on multiplayer in #MassEffect / "cooperative MP is bigger for us (than competitive)"
-"Spiritual successor" vibe for the next
-"It's ingrained in us to give players as much choice as possible" - @gamblemike #MassEffect
-"The animation team is now doing stuff we couldn't even dream about before" speaking on Frostbite 3 for #MassEffect
-"it's not called ME 4 damn it! " [I'm going to keep calling it that until they give it a name.]
-No announcements on player race choice of composers when asked
-The internet kept dying for the people livetweeting so there are more details that aren't here
-"I got video of the new #MassEffect Mako in action"

Update:

twitter.com/lizwrites/with_replies

-"Seems strongly implied that new Mass Effect will be set in totally different galaxy, but will contain familiar elements. #SDCC"
-"Not playing as Shepherd, and Shepherd is not important to story - new uncharted areas. #SDCC"
-"Mako is back in Mass Effect! More agile, no cannon. #SDCC"
-"New Mass Effect is focused on exploration of planets, Mako is meant to be fast travel on them. #SDCC"
-[Note]: Nerd Appropriate (one of the original tweeters) also said it sounded like another galaxy but they need to double check their audio recording.

The 'three core planets' was something I heard elsewhere, will try to track down.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

I hope by new galaxy they meant alternate timeline, not that they wen't to Andromeda or something.

 

[Lethe82]

They should just introduce time travel that changes the ending of Mass Effect 3, make this the Chrono Cross of the ME franchise.

How would they introduce new species? One of two ways, either they just slot them in like they did with Batarians, or they get introduced via being discovered, which is more likely. So then you have to ask, ok, are we going to discover them via them coming to us, essentially unlocking a relay and them coming through, or will we be going to them for some reason? All that talk about it being a 'new galaxy' means we're probably going to them and chances are there will be some reason that we can't just hop back through the relay (or "mega relay" that transports to a new galaxy)and have someone like Shepard coming to get involved, even if it isn't the destruction of the relays that keeps you relatively isolated.

Or they could Deep Space Nine in, as in it is in 'our galaxy' but way on the edge as it were, next to a wormhole/relay that opens up to somewhere else. Less likely. Chances are our hero is still getting stranded somewhere temporarily, and the reason that it will have new races but 'familiar elements' is probably because... those old races came with you on the expedition or what have you.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I really doubt it's a new galaxy. The setting just doesn't support it. One theory that I'm fond of is that we're playing as part of an expedition that traveled outside of the Mass Relay network for some reason, maybe in an effort to escape/hide some people from the Reapers, or maybe just looking to see what's out there. It's worth remembering that the network only covers a tiny percentage of the galaxy.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

I don't think it will be set in a new galaxy. For one, intergalactic travel is such an incredibly daunting prospect that even crazy-out-there science fiction usually dismisses the notion. Another issue would be the lack of familiar civilizations. I doubt we'll see a Mass Effect game where the only characters who belong to one of the pre-established races (human, asari, salarian, turian, krogan) are the crew of your exploratory ship.

More likely, if they're trying to recapture the much-loved frontier vibe of the original Mass Effect (especially since it often focused on the fringes of larger galactic society, like pirates and miners), it will probably be set in an unexplored region of the Milky Way. Even the Codex mentions that most of the galaxy is uncharted, and that the relays only connect to a tiny fraction of the total number of star systems.

Edit: Didn't realize I'd been beaten by Poodlestrike.

Super edit: One possibility (that would fit with pre-established lore) is that you're on a mission to chart new or dormant mass relays. The standard procedure for Citadel society is to refrain from using a newly discovered mass relay until they know what's on the other side--and the only way to find out what's on the other side is to travel there with conventional FTL. Given the "Pathfinder" patch photo that's floating around, I'm actually more and more convinced that finding new relays will be a big part of the plot structure.

 

[Lethe82]

Yeah new galaxy or not the framing is likely spot on.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I don't think it will be set in a new galaxy. For one, intergalactic travel is such an incredibly daunting prospect that even crazy-out-there science fiction usually dismisses the notion. Another issue would be the lack of familiar civilizations. I doubt we'll see a Mass Effect game where the only characters who belong to one of the pre-established races (human, asari, salarian, turian, krogan) are the crew of your exploratory ship.

More likely, if they're trying to recapture the much-loved frontier vibe of the original Mass Effect (especially since it often focused on the fringes of larger galactic society, like pirates and miners), it will probably be set in an unexplored region of the Milky Way. Even the Codex mentions that most of the galaxy is uncharted, and that the relays only connect to a tiny fraction of the total number of star systems.

Edit: Didn't realized I'd been beaten by Poodlestrike.

Super edit: One possibility (that would fit with pre-established lore) is that you're on a mission to chart new or dormant mass relays. The standard procedure for Citadel society is to refrain from using a newly discovered mass relay until they know what's on the other side--and the only way to find out what's on the other side is to travel there with conventional FTL. Given the "Pathfinder" patch photo that's floating around, I'm actually more and more convinced that finding new relays will be a big part of the plot structure.

Oooh, that's a good thought.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

I seriously hope to see some vistas like from this inspirational Carl Sagan video:

Excuse me for all the pictures, but thought you guys would like to get hyped thinking of a Mass Effect like this.

 

[DOWN]

I seriously hope to see some vistas like from this inspirational Carl Sagan video:



Excuse me for all the pictures, but thought you guys would like to get hyped thinking of a Mass Effect like this.

Gorgeous. People who like ME2 and 3 more with their linearity and no open space can go scratch.

The atmosphere of vast open, quiet space. Silence and foreign dust. Being the astronaut hero that people used to have posters of. That's what was magic about the grand, sleek vision of ME1. A bright future where you were a small glimmer in a big universe.

Thank goodness the Mako is back.

 

[Lethe82]

Gorgeous. People who like ME2 and 3 more with their linearity and no open space can go scratch.

The atmosphere of vast open, quiet space. Silence and foreign dust. Being the astronaut hero that people used to have posters of. That's what was magic about the grand, sleek vision of ME1. A bright future where you were a small glimmer in a big universe.

Thank goodness the Mako is back.

Here here. I hope they do decide to put a cannon on the Mako though, give us the threat of danger every now and then while exploring the unknown. Although having no weapon, the areas being vast and the danger being localized isn't a bad thing either.

 

[John Kowalski]

I will be hella mad if they don't simulate space acoustics properly.

I hope they send someone to the moon to guarantee fidelity.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I really doubt it's a new galaxy. The setting just doesn't support it. One theory that I'm fond of is that we're playing as part of an expedition that traveled outside of the Mass Relay network for some reason, maybe in an effort to escape/hide some people from the Reapers, or maybe just looking to see what's out there. It's worth remembering that the network only covers a tiny percentage of the galaxy.

Yeah but FTL drives get you to 5400 C on regular fuel so it's not hard to explore all of the stars around relays. With 2000 year old civilizations in the modern cycle of the galaxy there's not much excuse for why most of the galaxy wouldn't be mapped, even if most planets hadn't actually had someone set foot on them. The number and basic type of all the planets should be more or less known, only stuff like the Pluto relay would make it past detection in that sense.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Yeah but FTL drives get you to 5400 C on regular fuel so it's not hard to explore all of the stars around relays. With 2000 year old civilizations in the modern cycle of the galaxy there's not much excuse for why most of the galaxy wouldn't be mapped, even if most planets hadn't actually had someone set foot on them. The number and basic type of all the planets should be more or less known, only stuff like the Pluto relay would make it past detection in that sense.

But the network only covers a very tiny fraction of the stars in the galaxy, due in part to the outstanding ban on opening up relays without knowing what's on the other end. Space is big, man. 2000 years of FTL civilization is pocket change.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

Yeah but FTL drives get you to 5400 C on regular fuel so it's not hard to explore all of the stars around relays. With 2000 year old civilizations in the modern cycle of the galaxy there's not much excuse for why most of the galaxy wouldn't be mapped, even if most planets hadn't actually had someone set foot on them. The number and basic type of all the planets should be more or less known, only stuff like the Pluto relay would make it past detection in that sense.

There are 200 to 400 billion stars in the galaxy. That's a pretty good excuse. Maybe there would be a basic idea, in 2183, of how many stars there are and where they are, or which ones have planets. But little details like, "Is this planet habitable?" or, "Is this planet home to an aggressive race of mutant lizard-men?" are important things that you wouldn't be able to know without getting closer. Take the current efforts at finding exoplanets, for example: we're finding them left and right, but all we can really tell about them is their mass. We're not close enough to see what they're made of, let alone what kind of resources or knowledge might be gained from them.

Edit: It's also mentioned a couple times in the series that, even with FTL drives, on-demand interstellar travel would be effectively impossible without the mass relays.

 

[Prototype]

I really doubt it's a new galaxy. The setting just doesn't support it. One theory that I'm fond of is that we're playing as part of an expedition that traveled outside of the Mass Relay network for some reason, maybe in an effort to escape/hide some people from the Reapers, or maybe just looking to see what's out there. It's worth remembering that the network only covers a tiny percentage of the galaxy.

I think people forget this all the time. The galaxy is huge, bigger then you can image. They could tell a million stories the the same galaxy and each one would be vastly different.

 

[MrChowderClams]

I seriously hope to see some vistas like from this inspirational Carl Sagan video:



Excuse me for all the pictures, but thought you guys would like to get hyped thinking of a Mass Effect like this.

Mass Effect or not, thanks for posting that. Man, I wish I had the know-how to make a space game in the near-future with old-school sci-fi visuals like in that Wanderers film and Interstellar. That would be such an awesome universe to explore.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

There are 200 to 400 billion stars in the galaxy. That's a pretty good excuse. Maybe there would be a basic idea, in 2183, of how many stars there are and where they are, or which ones have planets. But little details like, "Is this planet habitable?" or, "Is this planet home to an aggressive race of mutant lizard-men?" are important things that you wouldn't be able to know without getting closer. Take the current efforts at finding exoplanets, for example: we're finding them left and right, but all we can really tell about them is their mass. We're not close enough to see what they're made of, let alone what kind of resources or knowledge might be gained from them.

Edit: It's also mentioned a couple times in the series that, even with FTL drives, on-demand interstellar travel would be effectively impossible without the mass relays.

I'm not saying you can't base a game around the milky way beyond the relay network, but I very strongly disagree that there would be a lot of room to have effectively "another galaxy" hidden inside of citadel space, more or less, which people are only just now exploring during or after the events of ME3.

It takes an estimated 8 hours to travel from Earth to alpha centauri at ~4 ly away. FTL capable spacecraft are extremely common - the shuttles we see in ME2 are FTL capable. The fleets consist of hundreds/thousands of interstellar capable star-ships per civilization including small ones like frigates. Civilian commerce exists and interstellar trade is common. There are hundreds of inhabited worlds in the citadel races and probably a similar amount outside of citadel space.

Assuming it takes an average of 7 days to reach a star and have a brief look around for signs of civilization then come home and refuel, and assuming 52 weeks per year, each scouting vessel would have an average of 52 stars explored per year. Over the 2000 years of Asari civilization, each single scouting ship that they maintain (replacing them as they eventually fail over time) could have explored 104,000 star systems. If the Asari had an average of 25 civilian scientific scouting ships per year over that period (assuming they had fewer to start with and more later on), they would have covered 2.6 million stars. But the Milky Way has 100 billion stars, right? So that's just a tiny fraction!

But assuming they are not exploring the ~50% of space not covered by Citadel authority, the significant proportion of stars that simply do not have any planets, the proportion of stars that clearly could not support life (the majority), you can cut "100 billion" down to more like "a few million", at best. Most likely a few hundred thousand. And the fact that the Turians, Salarians, Humans, Hanar, Volus, Elcor, Krogans and any other minor civilisations exist, sometimes for similar periods of time, it doesn't seem like any sources of potential life inside "citadel space" side of the Relays could have gone unexplored except by a conscious effort to not explore their own territory. It's one thing to say you're not going to open any more relays in case you encounter another war (editors note: this is a moronic decision by the council), quite another to just only exist inside the immediately surrounding planets and not even bother to check if there might be civilisations living under your own nose.

The milky way is ~1000 ly thick from top to bottom. 100,000 ly from end to end. If a frigate can go 12 ly/day (which is the figure we're given in ME1) and run for days without needing to discharge or refuel, it seems that a dedicated exploration vessel with an unusually large drive core (not Normandy large, but bigger than average) could plausibly go for 50-100 ly in a journey. Assuming there was a single planet to discharge on along the way, and it packs enough fuel, they might even be able to go much further than that. The range can be extended drastically by constructing small "outposts" a few dozen lightyears out into space. And there are not only "large" mass relays - we have numerous "secondary" relays that have ranges of tens or hundreds of lightyears, rather than thousands. So even if we suppose the maximum "easily" explorable range outside of a relay is 50-100 ly, that still basically covers the whole of the relay network.

I don't even know why I'm bothering to think about this, the codex contradicts itself and the game on several counts anyway and the writers will do whatever the heck they want like always. You are right to say that people talk and act as though FTL travel is impossible or extremely difficult without the relays, but that doesn't really stack up to the numbers we have for all of this stuff that the series itself gives. You couldn't maintain an empire from one end of the milky way to the other without them, but you could definitely have a thousand lightyear civilization and colonies that stretch in all directions.

 

[MrChowderClams]

I'm not saying you can't base a game around the milky way beyond the relay network, but I very strongly disagree that there would be a lot of room to have effectively "another galaxy" hidden inside of citadel space, more or less, which people are only just now exploring during or after the events of ME3.

And the fact that the Turians, Salarians, Humans, Hanar, Volus, Elcor, Krogans and any other minor civilisations exist, sometimes for similar periods of time, it doesn't seem like any sources of potential life inside "citadel space" side of the Relays could have gone unexplored except by a conscious effort to not explore their own territory.

They could also just create Von Neumann probes and explore a huge cross-section in a relatively short period of time.

 

[Renekton]

I really doubt it's a new galaxy. The setting just doesn't support it. One theory that I'm fond of is that we're playing as part of an expedition that traveled outside of the Mass Relay network for some reason, maybe in an effort to escape/hide some people from the Reapers, or maybe just looking to see what's out there. It's worth remembering that the network only covers a tiny percentage of the galaxy.

If it's a new galaxy, they might have to invent a whole new batch of aliens and start from scratch.

 

[Lethe82]

I'm not saying you can't base a game around the milky way beyond the relay network, but I very strongly disagree that there would be a lot of room to have effectively "another galaxy" hidden inside of citadel space, more or less, which people are only just now exploring during or after the events of ME3.

It takes an estimated 8 hours to travel from Earth to alpha centauri at ~4 ly away. FTL capable spacecraft are extremely common - the shuttles we see in ME2 are FTL capable. The fleets consist of hundreds/thousands of interstellar capable star-ships per civilization including small ones like frigates. Civilian commerce exists and interstellar trade is common. There are hundreds of inhabited worlds in the citadel races and probably a similar amount outside of citadel space.

Assuming it takes an average of 7 days to reach a star and have a brief look around for signs of civilization then come home and refuel, and assuming 52 weeks per year, each scouting vessel would have an average of 52 stars explored per year. Over the 2000 years of Asari civilization, each single scouting ship that they maintain (replacing them as they eventually fail over time) could have explored 104,000 star systems. If the Asari had an average of 25 civilian scientific scouting ships per year over that period (assuming they had fewer to start with and more later on), they would have covered 2.6 million stars. But the Milky Way has 100 billion stars, right? So that's just a tiny fraction!

But assuming they are not exploring the ~50% of space not covered by Citadel authority, the significant proportion of stars that simply do not have any planets, the proportion of stars that clearly could not support life (the majority), you can cut "100 billion" down to more like "a few million", at best. Most likely a few hundred thousand. And the fact that the Turians, Salarians, Humans, Hanar, Volus, Elcor, Krogans and any other minor civilisations exist, sometimes for similar periods of time, it doesn't seem like any sources of potential life inside "citadel space" side of the Relays could have gone unexplored except by a conscious effort to not explore their own territory. It's one thing to say you're not going to open any more relays in case you encounter another war (editors note: this is a moronic decision by the council), quite another to just only exist inside the immediately surrounding planets and not even bother to check if there might be civilisations living under your own nose.

The milky way is ~1000 ly thick from top to bottom. 100,000 ly from end to end. If a frigate can go 12 ly/day (which is the figure we're given in ME1) and run for days without needing to discharge or refuel, it seems that a dedicated exploration vessel with an unusually large drive core (not Normandy large, but bigger than average) could plausibly go for 50-100 ly in a journey. Assuming there was a single planet to discharge on along the way, and it packs enough fuel, they might even be able to go much further than that. The range can be extended drastically by constructing small "outposts" a few dozen lightyears out into space. And there are not only "large" mass relays - we have numerous "secondary" relays that have ranges of tens or hundreds of lightyears, rather than thousands. So even if we suppose the maximum "easily" explorable range outside of a relay is 50-100 ly, that still basically covers the whole of the relay network.

I don't even know why I'm bothering to think about this, the codex contradicts itself and the game on several counts anyway and the writers will do whatever the heck they want like always. You are right to say that people talk and act as though FTL travel is impossible or extremely difficult without the relays, but that doesn't really stack up to the numbers we have for all of this stuff that the series itself gives. You couldn't maintain an empire from one end of the milky way to the other without them, but you could definitely have a thousand lightyear civilization and colonies that stretch in all directions.

The ever increasing inconsistencies in the series has slowly been driving me mad.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

WALL OF TEXT

I wasn't aware of the 12 LY/day figure. That seems...excessive. I'm still not totally convinced that it would be as easy to explore the entire galaxy as you're saying, even with those numbers, given that the galaxy has a volume of about 8,000,000,000,000 (eight trillion) cubic light years, given FTL ships' need to discharge periodically, and given the logistical problems of supplying a crew with water, food, and air. After all, we didn't circumnavigate the globe the moment we invented sailing ships fast and sturdy enough to do it; there were other factors to consider before that became a possibility.

However, the 12 LY/day figure does blow away the idea that humans couldn't leave the Sol system without the Charon mass relay.

Regardless, a speed of 12 LY/day doesn't really square with the impression of FTL travel we're given throughout the entire trilogy, and even in the codex itself. That contradiction is a failure in the writing, obviously, but the next game could easily remove, modify, or ignore the previous mathematics. In fact, for internal consistency, it would be better if they did.

 

[EatChildren]

My gut says ME4 will be designed somewhat similarly to Inquisition, in that there's a whole bunch of large open landmasses (far more than Inquisition due to emptiness of uncharted worlds), and there will be a metagame revolving around these similar to the War Room in Inquisition. Capturing resources and/or doing stuff on uncharted worlds to accrue more resources to travel to and unlock new worlds.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

The funniest calc I ever worked on was where you took the screenshot of the Reapers looming above the galaxy in ME2's finale, measured the size of the galaxy in the screenshot, took a good guess at the angle and then used trigonometry to calculate the approximate distance that the Reapers were away from the galaxy. Flying at the speeds given by codex of ME3 (Reapers believed to go "as fast" as 30 lightyears per day) should have taken them over 8 years to get back to the galaxy since they're in the ballpark of 90,000 lightyears away.

Based on the fact that Arrival DLC took place within weeks or months of the ME2 Finale that's quite off the mark, lol. But the art team has never given a single fuck about canon, lore or visual consistency. It's not really surprising there. They did a huge fuckup in the Battle of the Citadel where they accidentally showed dozens of Systems Alliance dreadnoughts. So they had to retcon them as being cruisers instead and use that cg model as the alliance cruisers from then on out in the series. Plus the railguns on starships accidentally firing giant slow moving missiles... classic.

Or ME2, where you're activating a "GARDIAN" defense turret... which is supposed to be a laser according to the codex, but is clearly a railgun based on visual effects, the fact that it shoots a goddamn slug and has giant recoil after doing so. Then the Normandy in the final battle of ME2 swoops around through space like its an aircraft in atmosphere, even though Newtonian principles of combat are espoused in the codex and mentioned by character dialogues through the series.

 

[DOWN]

My gut says ME4 will be designed somewhat similarly to Inquisition, in that there's a whole bunch of large open landmasses (far more than Inquisition due to emptiness of uncharted worlds), and there will be a metagame revolving around these similar to the War Room in Inquisition. Capturing resources and/or doing stuff on uncharted worlds to accrue more resources to travel to and unlock new worlds.

Better not be cross gen. I need this thing designed to stuff a Blu-Ray at max power.

 

[texhnolyze]

It's more than even that, if you think about it.

Barrier = Shields (it's even already blue!). Guard = Armor. Health Potions = Medigel. Tonics/Other potions = Grenades.

On a controller, you're already holding R2 to fight. They'll have to figure out the skills to allow for holding L2 to aim, but you can actually easily see how ME combat fits in.

Wow, you're right. Everything has been set, huh?
They just need new environments and tons of covers placed on the world map and it's done, a Mass Effect game.

 

[BrassDragon]

Via tweets about the panel:
twitter.com/NerdAppropriate
twitter.com/andrearene/

I'm tried to put non-obvious details/newer stuff near the top of the list.

Details...)

Thanks for compiling that summary!

I'm thinking that the three planets idea comes from the N7 day roundtable, where they talked about two new alien homeworlds and a space station setting... but it would be such a regression if that was the entirety of the setting.

It's a little bit old (we've already discussed it at BSF ), but I Don't think this was posted before (in here). it's quite interesting.



MarieRenée Brisebois ‏@MarieBrisebois
About to make the BioWare Montreal team really happy with a cool new shirt!

---------

Fabrice Condominas ‏@Faburisu

New swag for the team! What could this mean...

At the Pax Prime closed door 'focus group' meeting, BioWare asked what N7 meant to the attendees. It could be that they were deciding whether the hero would sport the familiar N7 logo (as seen in the concept art) or whether they'd substitute something new, like this Pathfinder Initiative.

Maybe 'Pathfinder' is the title of the proverbial chosen one in this game, like Spectre and Inquisitor.

 

[DirtyCase]

My gut says ME4 will be designed somewhat similarly to Inquisition, in that there's a whole bunch of large open landmasses (far more than Inquisition due to emptiness of uncharted worlds), and there will be a metagame revolving around these similar to the War Room in Inquisition. Capturing resources and/or doing stuff on uncharted worlds to accrue more resources to travel to and unlock new worlds.

After playing Inquisition, I agree entirely. It could be based on reactivating mass relays and gaining resources from making contact with Alien civilizations or taken from planets as a last ditch effort against the reapers. The protagonist and team or whoever is given authority to do so (almost like a spectre).

It sounds like it would work better than a new galaxy entirely and if the search is based off of going out from known relays then it makes even more sense to be seeing familiar species.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Just by the name Pathfinder and the fact that everyone has been crying for exploration yeah, it does seem obvious that it will be the new "Inquisition" so to speak. Your job will be to scout out new worlds for Earth or whatever. The "A R K C O N" makes it seem like humans are fleeing Earth, so it could take place prior to or concurrent with ME3 as some kind of Reaper avoidance thing. Or the aftermath of ME3 has left a wrecked planet, shattered relay network, and numerous alien armies stranded on Earth. So they're looking for a new home away from Earth.

Ha just kidding, that would rely too heavily on continuity, so it will probably be a totally unrelated calamity that befalls Earth

 

[valkyre]

What I want in the next Mass Effect, is a better sense of exploration. I dont want to see just one HUB world like the Citadel in ME3. I want more. Let me explore cities like Ilium, let me wander of to the far reaches of space and explore new worlds.

Also, for Christ's sake, give me control of the new normandy (or whatever its called). Let me control it, fly it!

 

[texhnolyze]

Are the systems fixed yet? Next-gen & PC only?
http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/7/7174453/mass-effect-new-races-next-gen-pc

 

[DirtyCase]

What I want in the next Mass Effect, is a better sense of exploration. I dont want to see just one HUB world like the Citadel in ME3. I want more. Let me explore cities like Ilium, let me wander of to the far reaches of space and explore new worlds.

Damn definitely starting a new ME 1 playthrough once I finished this last uni assignment.

 

[Derp]

What I want in the next Mass Effect, is a better sense of exploration. I dont want to see just one HUB world like the Citadel in ME3. I want more. Let me explore cities like Ilium, let me wander of to the far reaches of space and explore new worlds.

Also, for Christ's sake, give me control of the new normandy (or whatever its called). Let me control it, fly it!

Thiiiiiis!

 

[Lethe82]

My gut says ME4 will be designed somewhat similarly to Inquisition, in that there's a whole bunch of large open landmasses (far more than Inquisition due to emptiness of uncharted worlds), and there will be a metagame revolving around these similar to the War Room in Inquisition. Capturing resources and/or doing stuff on uncharted worlds to accrue more resources to travel to and unlock new worlds.

Yep, it sure sounds that way. They have said that there will be no weapons (or combat) during Mako traversal... but I am doubtful that the final product will reflect that.

Are the systems fixed yet? Next-gen & PC only?
http://www.polygon.com/2014/11/7/7174453/mass-effect-new-races-next-gen-pc

No current gen systems. PS4/XB1/PC Only.

 

[Always-honest]

I seriously hope to see some vistas like from this inspirational Carl Sagan video:



Excuse me for all the pictures, but thought you guys would like to get hyped thinking of a Mass Effect like this.

Yeah, i watched that yesterday. I was thinking about Mass Effect too when i was watching it. Some amazing footage there. And ofcourse the soothing voice of Sagan never hurts

 

[Carn82]

My gut says ME4 will be designed somewhat similarly to Inquisition, in that there's a whole bunch of large open landmasses (far more than Inquisition due to emptiness of uncharted worlds), and there will be a metagame revolving around these similar to the War Room in Inquisition. Capturing resources and/or doing stuff on uncharted worlds to accrue more resources to travel to and unlock new worlds.

Didnt Bioware said that much themselves?

http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/19/mass-effect-4-dragon-age-3-to-share-core-mechanics-says-bioware/