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[10k]

I'm not sure they're doing the trilogy thing anymore, but if they are, they can just transfer data via a website a la Inquisition.

But it's not the same. I want all my games on one platform since I usually sell my old console to fund my new one.

1. Next-Gen consoles in 2020 or 2021 is a bit bold.

2. You can still have a trilogy and it be a cross-gen title, like Inquisition.

We got the Xbox 360 for 8 years and it's still getting titles in years 9 and 10. You don't think the PS4 and XB1 are going to be another 7-8 year cycle? There won't be 5-6 year cycles anymore outside of Nintendo.

As other said above, this shouldn't be an issue. If they do save transfers, there are other ways. (And I'll be playing on PC anyway, so..)

I'm just bummed that the consensus keeps sliding backward slowly. A couple years ago 2015 was the assumption. Then it became well MAYBE late 2015. Then probably slipping into early 2016. And now Q1 2016 is even too early, with Q2 being an "optimistic" expectation in shinobi's opinion? Pretty soon we'll be saying "well, obviously it's early 2017 because late 2016 is for Battlefield".

I know. Mass Effect 4 is the next The Last Guardian/FFXV

 

[Ralemont]

I hope you're right.
My only concern is that the new Mass Effect won't be for everyone, like DAI. Some really love it, some really hate it.

That would make it right at home with the other three ME games.

No such thing as a game for everyone.

 

[foxtrot3d]

We got the Xbox 360 for 8 years and it's still getting titles in years 9 and 10. You don't think the PS4 and XB1 are going to be another 7-8 year cycle?

That's exactly what I think.

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Naw, it's going to place second in the GOTY voting behind the greatest character action game ever made. It's got plenty of love here.

That doesn't mean there aren't worthy critiques to be made, which is why there are a few threads on it. Inquisition is pretty much the definition of a flawed gem.

Yeah, I can agree with that. The fetch quests did get rather tedious.

 

[BrassDragon]

I hope you're right.
My only concern is that the new Mass Effect won't be for everyone, like DAI. Some really love it, some really hate it.

I expect that the core combat mechanic of Mass Effect is much more enjoyable than the floaty MMO-light encounters of DA:I. Encounters in the last two Mass Effect games are just great fun regardless of context (exhibit A: the multiplayer mode.) And, if they get it right, the driving section should be interesting in and off itself. For those reasons, I expect that it will be easier to ignore its shortcomings in other departments.

I was able to overlook the rather bland combat / exploration in DA:I because for me the game fills a void that no other title has filled - it's just my kind of jam. But I completely understand how many feel it underlines the game's lack of depth in content.

Here's hoping Mass Effect 4 gets the balance right.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

It still cuts me deep that they're bringing the Mako back instead of the Hammerhead. It was real fun to cruise around at high speed, they just needed to make it tougher during combat and give it a better weapons loadout. It felt much more like a "Mass Effect" vehicle. It's a universe where you have all these drones and floating gunships and hover-boards that Saren uses, so a high speed hover vehicle really suits it.

 

[gnarlyxcharlie]

So aside from the OP, is there pretty much nothing else known about ME4? Watched a clip of ME1 and it gave me them feels.

 

[DOWN]

It still cuts me deep that they're bringing the Mako back instead of the Hammerhead. It was real fun to cruise around at high speed, they just needed to make it tougher during combat and give it a better weapons loadout. It felt much more like a "Mass Effect" vehicle. It's a universe where you have all these drones and floating gunships and hover-boards that Saren uses, so a high speed hover vehicle really suits it.

But it also is a nostalgic vision of classic space idealizations and sci-fi imagery. The Mars rover aesthetic of the Mako is more in line with classic and iconic spacefaring. I love the Mako and all it needs is a well-designed surface to traverse and an improved mobility and control style.

 

[BrassDragon]

So aside from the OP, is there pretty much nothing else known about ME4? Watched a clip of ME1 and it gave me them feels.

A collection of known details can be found on the BioWare forums.

 

[gnarlyxcharlie]

A collection of known details can be found on the BioWare forums.

Excellent, thanks.

Still pretty barren on details, but I'm hyped regardless. With ME1, I hated the first few hours but once I got to exploring and talking I was hooked.

 

[dreamlock]

A collection of known details can be found on the BioWare forums.

Thanks for linking this!

Still pretty barren on details, but I'm hyped regardless. With ME1, I hated the first few hours but once I got to exploring and talking I was hooked.

I just started my replay of the trilogy two days ago and I agree. It's really slow in the beginning in ME1, but once you get started exploring it's awesome. I'm also using the M.E.U.I.T.M (Mass Effect Updated/Improved Textures Mod) to enhance the experience a little since I last played several years ago.

Now, the main problem I have is that I don't want to go adventuring without Garrus. He's been with me in every playthrough and it's kind of hard to let him stay behind for a change. :/

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Oh, yeah im gonna have to have controller support. Thanks man, im weirdly excited about starting it up again.

I know the exact feeling you are describing... that twinkle when you realise you will be playing Mass Effect again, even if it's your 12th playthrough... it's just as (or close enough to) magical as the first.

No other game illicites these feels from me... the only one I can think of was Skyrim, but that was a slightly different twinkle.

 

[spekkeh]

A collection of known details can be found on the BioWare forums.

the exploration reads like DA:I

 

[Jack cw]

the exploration reads like DA:I

Excellent.

 

[BrassDragon]

the exploration reads like DA:I

You could be right but I'm not sure how you drew that conclusion from the link.

About exploration, they mention "A major theme of the game is cultural discovery, and an archaeological 'feel'", which is not prominent at all in DA:I.

There is also "Exploration is about the feeling that you are seeing something unique, that is special to you, but there is also a sense of danger" and "The player is not forced into exploration, or one single type of experience. The player is not forced to drive the Mako all the time, it's a game of choice."

For what it's worth, I think their vision is on point.

 

[DOWN]

You could be right but I'm not sure how you drew that conclusion from the link.

About exploration, they mention "A major theme of the game is cultural discovery, and an archaeological 'feel'", which is not prominent at all in DA:I.

There is also "Exploration is about the feeling that you are seeing something unique, that is special to you, but there is also a sense of danger" and "The player is not forced into exploration, or one single type of experience. The player is not forced to drive the Mako all the time, it's a game of choice."

For what it's worth, I think their vision is on point.

The danger of being so small and out there in the wilds of space, seeing the fragments of expedition and curiosity that scattered in isolation for you to rediscover cold and dormant, was a beautiful and haunting sensation that Mako exploration brought to ME 1. These descriptions give me hope.

 

[shinobi602]

Ahhh goddammit. First half 2016 is considered optimistic now? -_-

I thought you said 2015 was still on the table as of the latter part of last year (even if unlikely). Or maybe that was EatChildren. Can't remember.

What constitutes full vs. less-than-full production anyway? I thought they started the planning stages in 2012. More massive than DA:I? In terms of what? That almost sounds like a bad thing to me.

Massive' in terms of size/scale, that's all. Yea 'optimistic' but not unlikely or anything, it could very well be ready by Q2 2016, the date's still not set even internally. There were about 50 or so devs on the game around when DAI shipped, that's since quadrupled in number. That new build Gamble was talking about was a big milestone related to that. Doubling down on one single engine (Frostbite) across all the studios is a huge advantage. '

Late 2015/very early 2016 was my own line of thought before I talked to certain people. They're making it the best game it can be, it'll be worth the wait.

It's 100% coming next year.

 

[HarryHengst]

the exploration reads like DA:I

Which is great news, because DA;I was great for exploration if you took the time to read everything and taking in the scenery.

I'm also not that afraid about ME4 being influenced by DA:I. DA:I is a great game with flaws, but it was also Bioware's first attempt at this kind of game. They already talked about it being the blueprint for the next X number of games, so they will learn from the experience and the criticisms.

Although i would be a tiny bit disappointed if the ME3 combat is replaced with what we have in DA:I. ME3 combat was great fun, especially in multiplayer.

 

[Fattony12000]

Vigil.mp3 is still utterly beautiful.

 

[Cyber Caesar]

It's possible for a two hour movie to be so dense with ideas and visual imagery it feels longer than 100 hours.Therefore I don't think there is a need to chase Inquisition in terms of size. I'd be content they chase Mass Effect 2 in terms of quality, density and story details. I'd be very interested in a open world Mass Effect if this new open world could be fleshed out beyond what we have come to expect from the genre.

I think it is highly unlikely the #1 criticism about Inquisition (fetch quest and poor side quests) went unheard by the development team. Dragon Age Inquisition is still a worthy game of the year.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

Just got the feels really bad reading over the info. I can't wait for the next ME.

Even more so a new Jade Empire... sigh I miss that game so much.
So much feels right now with bioware.. lol

 

[SniperHunter]

Casey Hudson left Bioware a while ago right? I wonder how that will affect this game. I just hope the story is good. The stories in BioWare games started taking a hit right after Drew Karphyshn left

 

[TheFatMan]

A collection of known details can be found on the BioWare forums.

Oh thank you! Although that is still pretty barren on the details it will keep me busy for an hour or so at work haha.

 

[Guri]

Even if the game was actually ready this year, EA would be crazy to put it in the same release window as Battlefront.

 

[Maledict]

Casey Hudson left Bioware a while ago right? I wonder how that will affect this game. I just hope the story is good. The stories in BioWare games started taking a hit right after Drew Karphyshn left

I have to slightly disagree there. Drew was great and a very talented writer, but there's a weird cult that seems to have grown up around him in ME fandom that basically blames the disjointed ness of Me2 and the crappy ending to ME3 on him going and that's the reason for all the issues. Often mentions the mysterious dark energy storyline that vanished.

Drew was great but he was part of a team - he himself has admitted the original Dark Energy storyline was not that good an idea. Seriously, it's even more ridiculous than the organics versus synthetics storyline when you look at it objectively, and a repeat of that old 'the enemy was really the good guy trying to save everyone' troop would have been awful.

It has always been the individual character arcs and interactions in ME that were the strength of the writing, not the plot and overall storyline. The original Mass Effect storyline, whilst brilliant to play through, has plot holes the size of Wales in it and some really dumb stuff that doesn't make sense when you look back at it. Meanwhile, Bioware sans Drew wrote the scenes in ME3 with Mordin humming as he goes to his death on Tuchanka, and Garrus's favourite place on the citedal.

 

[dreamlock]

I hope they take their time and make sure to hold out on a release if it means that the end result will be better. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us.

After giving it some thought I bet that their current target is (or was) to release it in March 2016 (Q1), but I think that's unrealistic considering the size of the game, new features, story, world building as well as feedback they've received on some of the negative aspects of DA:I so they'll miss that target and postpone it to November 2016 (Q4). However, this may change if EA forces them to release the game prematurely like they did with DICE in the past.

This foretelling is based on previous statements about them being at a very early stage in development (last year's Mass Effect panel at Comic-con on July 26) and their previous releases (courtesy of IGN) in recent years as they do seem to like releasing near the end of Q1 (March) or mid-Q4. (November)

To be more specific on the dates, I suspect it'll be either March 8, 2016, or November 22, 2016. The latter being most likely as 2 years and 5 months will have passed since they announced the game. Add a couple of more months prior to the announcement for basic concepts, or work being done by a smaller team, and the total length of the production just seems logical and realistic compared to less than two years if it releases in March. I'll be very impressed if they manage to release a polished game by Q1 or even Q2 of 2016.

You can praise or laugh at me once the release date is announced. I won't edit this post no matter what.

Let's see what the future holds.

 

[Nirolak]

But it's not the same. I want all my games on one platform since I usually sell my old console to fund my new one.

...What's the functional difference?

Presumably by the time the third one comes out, if it wasn't cross-gen, you would have sold the old one anyway, no?

 

[Patryn]

Casey Hudson left Bioware a while ago right? I wonder how that will affect this game. I just hope the story is good. The stories in BioWare games started taking a hit right after Drew Karphyshn left

He never was super heavy on this title in the first place, I don't think. He was working on the new Bioware IP.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Drew was great but he was part of a team - he himself has admitted the original Dark Energy storyline was not that good an idea. Seriously, it's even more ridiculous than the organics versus synthetics storyline when you look at it objectively, and a repeat of that old 'the enemy was really the good guy trying to save everyone' troop would have been awful.

Where did he admit that it was not a good idea? Thats news to me.

Also I find it funny to claim its "more ridiculous" when neither you nor I have any clue how it would be implemented. It could work and could work brilliantly. When I first heard about it I was intrigued and certainly felt it would have been better than the Starchild.

 

[Ralemont]

Also I find it funny to claim its "more ridiculous" when neither you nor I have any clue how it would be implemented. It could work and could work brilliantly. When I first heard about it I was intrigued and certainly felt it would have been better than the Starchild.

It would have to be changed quite a bit to work. The premise of the Dark Energy plotline is based around the Reapers being interested in humans for their genetic diversity. Meanwhile humans are one of the least genetically diverse species on Planet Earth, which doesn't extrapolate well to galactic comparisons.

The yo dawg meme that people mistakenly apply to the organic/synthetic ending would actually be true for the Dark Energy ending. The Reapers are trying to stop the spread of dark energy, so they build technology that uses dark energy and lets the galaxy use it before it harvests them.

I don't think Drew ever said the DE ending was a bad idea, but he rejected the notion that it would be better than what happened. He likened it to vaporware in that because it was never fleshed out people assume it will be executed well.

Also, if one of the issues of the organic/synthetic ending is that it elevates a sub-theme of the series into the main theme, I don't even know how to characterize an ending that claims as foreshadowing a few lines in a couple of quests.

 

[Valus]

Well I just finished the trilogy and I just feel kinda meh about the ending. Though apparently it was even worse before. Unfortunate. I liked ME2 the most. Didn't play all the DLC since the prices for them are outrageous.

I really hope the next game takes place after the Shepard's story, even if that means they have to pick an ending and canonize it. If it takes place during his timeline I feel like it won't be impactful at all. Plus, I am very tired of Space Jesus. Would very much prefer something different.

Apparently you won't be able to pick your race in the new one either. Makes me sad, Dragon Age does it right with their choices.

 

[razzmahtazz]

It would have to be changed quite a bit to work. The premise of the Dark Energy plotline is based around the Reapers being interested in humans for their genetic diversity. Meanwhile humans are one of the least genetically diverse species on Planet Earth, which doesn't extrapolate well to galactic comparisons.

The yo dawg meme that people mistakenly apply to the organic/synthetic ending would actually be true for the Dark Energy ending. The Reapers are trying to stop the spread of dark energy, so they build technology that uses dark energy and lets the galaxy use it before it harvests them.

I don't think Drew ever said the DE ending was a bad idea, but he rejected the notion that it would be better than what happened. He likened it to vaporware in that because it was never fleshed out people assume it will be executed well.

Also, if one of the issues of the organic/synthetic ending is that it elevates a sub-theme of the series into the main theme, I don't even know how to characterize an ending that claims as foreshadowing a few lines in a couple of quests.

Him being there for ME3 might have helped in avoiding both endings. Or helped in better executing the DE ending.

 

[Nirolak]

He never was super heavy on this title in the first place, I don't think. He was working on the new Bioware IP.

Yeah, even his departure was tied to the new IP getting solidly into pre-production.

Most of the senior leads for Mass Effect are actually on that project still, and were the same core group from back when BioWare split into two core teams to make KotOR and Neverwinter Nights.

I think that's why we see the team being happy that the BioWare Edmonton devs feel the game still feels like Mass Effect, since it's basically a completely new set of creative leads instead of just one or two people moving to a different project.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

How cool would it be to have missions that can be tackled in multiple ways, including non-violent ones?

You already did, just not loads of them. Jahleed's Fears from ME1 is the earliest example in the trilogy that I can think of; you can finish it before you even leave the Citadel.

Bioware has 800+ employees

Holy crap. I have to assume that many of those employees aren't developers at all, but that's still massive. Did they grow their staff like crazy after the EA acquisition, or were they big even when they were independent?

I agree, without beating a dead horse, ME3 was so close to sticking the ending and had it done so it would have been a monumental achievement in gaming history.

To tell a story, with a single protagonist and a well-written cast, over multiple games, while reflecting player choices, is already a pretty monumental achievement. The execution slipped sometimes, but the trilogy as a whole will definitely be remembered as a milestone.

 

[Blue Ninja]

You already did, just not loads of them. Jahleed's Fears from ME1 is the earliest example in the trilogy that I can think of; you can finish it before you even leave the Citadel.

Holy crap. I have to assume that many of those employees aren't developers at all, but that's still massive. Did they grow their staff like crazy after the EA acquisition, or were they big even when they were independent?

To tell a story, with a single protagonist and a well-written cast, over multiple games, while reflecting player choices, is already a pretty monumental achievement. The execution slipped sometimes, but the trilogy as a whole will definitely be remembered as a milestone.

They got merged with several other companies that are now under the BioWare name.

 

[BouncyFrag]

the exploration reads like DA:I

Aww yeah! Mass Effect Hinterlands, here I come.

 

[yeehamuffins]

Aww yeah! Mass Effect Hinterlands, here I come.

Mass Effect 4 |OT| Leave the damn Citadel!

 

[shinobi602]

What's he naming!?

 

[Daemul]

Aww yeah! Mass Effect Hinterlands, here I come.

 

[Nirolak]

What's he naming!?

I kind of assumed he was on their new IP these days, but maybe not.

His brother seemed like the logical successor to helm the new IP after Casey left.

 

[shinobi602]

I kind of assumed he was on their new IP these days, but maybe not.

His brother seemed like the logical successor to helm the new IP after Casey left.

Mmm, yea Jay's been on Mass Effect for a good while now. Not sure what his brother's up to, I'm assuming the new IP.

 

[Lakitu]

What's he naming!?

Planets, maybe?

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

Planets, maybe?

I'm pretty sure they used a name generator for most of those. I guess he could be naming the important ones, though.

 

[Winterfang]

Planets, maybe?

Reapers.

 

[anexanhume]

Mass Effect 4 |OT| Leave the damn Citadel!

Mass Effect 4 |OT| Repears, Leave the Citadel alone!

After seeing the gameplay direction of the ME series and where they went with DA:I, I'm confident they'll make the next Mass Effect fun to play. I'm just hoping they can take the universe to an interesting place that doesn't just conjure up bad thoughts about the previous trilogy.

 

[Nostremitus]

What's he naming!?

Maybe the actual game?

 

[Guri]

What's he naming!?

The new favourite spot on the Citadel.

 

[The Lamonster]

The thing I'd love to hear from people is what you'd like to have in such an experience. For me (personal opinion, and based on what people have told me many times before):

- 1080p
- 60 fps
- High res textures, especially on ME1
- Some shader improvements commensurate with newer GPUs
- All the DLC
- "Seamless experience" - the adventures flow into each other without having to go back to save import, menu screens, etc.

Agree / disagree? What else?

Bear in mind this is a "wish list" at this point...

Just found this post, but yeah this wish list is pretty much perfect.

The only thing I'd add to it is the ability to import my Shepard's face so I don't have to redesign her.

 

[shinobi602]

Maybe the actual game?

That's been done for a little while now.

 

[Bisnic]

The new favourite spot on the Citadel.

Ah, you mean Rodam Expeditions? I know that place! It's Shepard's favorite!