What would you like to see in Mass Effect 4?

[DeadCrow]

I think I would like to see Shepard come back one more time. More options for interaction with people, different weapons, better engine and have multiple endings depending on what you did throughout the storyline.

[claud3]

well a less confusing ending and a less messed up game

[Lethal_NFS]

I want to see full nudity.


That is all.

[DeadCrow]

I want to see full nudity.


That is all.

I think you're on to something...yes, it's perfect!

[Ixion]

I think I would like to see Shepard come back one more time. More options for interaction with people, different weapons, better engine and have multiple endings depending on what you did throughout the storyline.

We're not going to see Shepard anymore. His/her story is over. The next game will not be called 'Mass Effect 4' by the way, since BioWare said they are not continuing Shepard's story, but will instead go far into the future or far into the past.

As for what I'd like to see in the next game:

More hub areas: The Citadel was the only city in ME3, and while the Citadel is great, we need more race-specific settlements to explore in order to become more attached and better acquainted with Mass Effect's universe.

Improved Endings: Not only should the endings be much more varied than what we got in ME3, but it was disappointing that our War Assets were nothing more than points added to a score. I was expecting to see at least 10 seconds of each asset fighting in the final battle. It would have made collecting War Assets more fun.

Improved Space Exploration/Combat: The next step for this franchise is to actually have the player pilot their ship in space, instead of flying around a mini-map. In order to keep the experience properly paced, BioWare would have to decrease the proportions and make traveling to planets fast and easy. This would also allow for space combat.

Improved Animations: This doesn't need much explanation. Mass Effect has always had some very stiff animations.

Improved Main-Character Voice Acting: From what I understand, FemShep's voice acting is pretty solid, but I have yet to play as her. I have only played as Male Shepard and his voice acting is terribly robotic. The side characters are well-done though.

Improved Quest System: ME3's quest system didn't allow you to select a quest and be shown where to go. Many of them were quite vague. This needs to be laid out a bit better.

[Completely Average]

I would rather not see another Mass Effect game at all.

The first two were brilliant. The 3rd was a let down, not nearly as good as the first two.


I would rather see them move on to a new IP rather than trying to drag out this one anymore. Shepherds gone, the magic is gone, time to move on. Besides, a whole new IP offers up a whole new universe of possibilities to explore.

[Kakihara_Anjo]

I would like to see a Dragon Age origins kind of story for the next Mass Effect.
Pick your species, play as a Salarian, Turien, Krogan etc. Each with a starting story that changes subtle things throughout the game.

[Updator]

Being able to play as different races. A less confusing ending would also be nice.

[Ixion]

I would rather not see another Mass Effect game at all.

The first two were brilliant. The 3rd was a let down, not nearly as good as the first two.

What else disappointed you besides the ending? I thought ME3 was a phenomenal experience until the ending, so I'm still excited for another game.

I would rather see them move on to a new IP rather than trying to drag out this one anymore. Shepherds gone, the magic is gone, time to move on. Besides, a whole new IP offers up a whole new universe of possibilities to explore.

The next game won't have anything to do with Shepard or the Reaper War. It will be a new trilogy set in another time, so the next game can still feel quite fresh, especially since it will begin on next-gen systems.

[admartian]

If it's a bnew trilogy, then make the ending better. And I hope it';s not a prequel.

But honestly, EA has pissed me off even more these days so I doubt I'll properly get these.

[Serinous]

i dont want a mass effect that's set in centuries after the 3rd... basically a brand new story.

[Lefein]

More colored endings.

[jlippone]

Make it a sandbox space exploration game in vein of Star Flight and make the gameplay actually matter.
Meaning, do not make it a KotOR clone.

[Blacksite]

I would rather see them move on to a new IP rather than trying to drag out this one anymore. Shepherds gone, the magic is gone, time to move on. Besides, a whole new IP offers up a whole new universe of possibilities to explore.

I'd like to see them revisit Jade Empire with a sequel.

[DreDayDetox]

A lot more missions. Mass Effect 3 was long, but it felt like I had a lot more to do in Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 4 should be as long as Fallout 3 or New Vegas. Tons and tons and tons of missions, plus worlds to explore and play mini-games in. Also, this time, the stakes have to be higher. Let's assume the series is based on the third, green ending.

The synthians deem their existence worthless. They literally create humans, but later find out they were like the old ones, before the Reaper invasion. They realize how much they fail and they want to take everyone down with them. So, they plan to destroy the universe. They come up with a doomsday machine so massive that it will re-create the effects of the big bang, but in reverse so that all life starts from scratch.

Or a plot that involves the universe being completely destroyed.

[BoyBettaKnow]

No Shepard. All of my Shepherd's stories have been completed. I think Mass Effect is the greatest gaming franchise created this generation nothing beats it in my eyes.

Sure, the ending wasn't the greatest however you have to be some whiney little prick to let a 10 minute cutscene change your opinion and think that a collective 100 or so hours of fantastic, and often unrivalled gaming, over the course of the 3 games has been ruined.

So yeah, no more Shepard. A game based on the Krogan/Rachni wars would've been interesting.


BBK. Tapatalking.

[Completely Average]

What else disappointed you besides the ending? I thought ME3 was a phenomenal experience until the ending, so I'm still excited for another game.

Compared to the first two it was a watered down shooter. The first two games I played as a Sentinel, and your biotic powers were absolutely essential to get through the game. Playing as a Sentinel in the 3rd game though, Powers were totally unnecessary. Most of the time they were harder to use and had less of an effect than simply shooting the enemy. The only Power that made any real difference was Warp Ammo.

Also in the first game the Pistol was the only weapon a Sentinel could use, and part way through the game you could add a single other weapon type. Mass Effect 3 had no weapon restrictions at all. Rather than being an Adept with a gun it was more of a Soldier with a weak biotic system. I didn't like the change at all, it took the whole RPG aspect out of the game series.

The next game won't have anything to do with Shepard or the Reaper War. It will be a new trilogy set in another time, so the next game can still feel quite fresh, especially since it will begin on next-gen systems.

Another reason to drop the whole "Mass Effect" name and setting and start with something new. Why bother having a Mass Effect game with no Reapers? They were the whole reason the Mass Effect system and tech existed. What bad guys can match a race of sentient machines that are determined to wipe out all advanced intelligent life in the galaxy?

I don't want to see the Mass Effect franchise turned into some daytime soap opera with convoluted plotlines that feel like they were forced into an existing universe that had nothing to do with them. I would rather the whole franchise just ends where it did and something entirely new and fresh be built from the ground up.

A game based on the Krogan/Rachni wars would've been interesting.

Starship Troopers but with 7 foot toads replacing the humans...... No thanks.

[Cyn]

Not a ME fan so I'm inclined to say improve everything or just don't make another game

But for the sake of constructive criticism; get rid of shoulder cam

[n0na90]

Inspiration.

[MATRIX 2]

Not a ME fan so I'm inclined to say improve everything or just don't make another game

But for the sake of constructive criticism; get rid of shoulder cam

I don't think you understand how 3rd person games work.

[Ixion]

i dont want a mass effect that's set in centuries after the 3rd... basically a brand new story.

That's the point though. A brand new story in the same universe. You might say, "Why not a new story in a new universe?" Well, they could do that too, like Final Fantasy. But they put so much effort into Mass Effect's universe, so there's still a lot of potential.

Make it a sandbox space exploration game

I agree that space exploration would be a logical progression for the series, but BioWare needs to avoid the quantity over quality issue they had with both ME1 and ME2 (with ME1's bland planet exploration and ME2's tedious planet scanning).

Basically, I would only allow the player to land on planets that are of interest, instead of having tons of boring, similar planets, like how Oblivion handled dungeons. Instead of there being over 200 similar dungeons, I would rather have 30 unique and interesting dungeons.

A lot more missions. Mass Effect 3 was long, but it felt like I had a lot more to do in Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 4 should be as long as Fallout 3 or New Vegas. Tons and tons and tons of missions, plus worlds to explore and play mini-games in.

Keep in mind that Mass Effect is more about playing the game multiple times instead of playing one long game, since the dialogue/story/squad choices, etc, means BioWare has to spend time allowing for situations to play out differently.

Compared to the first two it was a watered down shooter. The first two games I played as a Sentinel, and your biotic powers were absolutely essential to get through the game. Playing as a Sentinel in the 3rd game though, Powers were totally unnecessary. Most of the time they were harder to use and had less of an effect than simply shooting the enemy. The only Power that made any real difference was Warp Ammo.

Also in the first game the Pistol was the only weapon a Sentinel could use, and part way through the game you could add a single other weapon type. Mass Effect 3 had no weapon restrictions at all. Rather than being an Adept with a gun it was more of a Soldier with a weak biotic system. I didn't like the change at all, it took the whole RPG aspect out of the game series.

I've only played as a Soldier, so I can't really comment on this, but I would hardly say an issue like this takes out the 'whole RPG aspect'. There are many other RPG aspects to ME3.

Another reason to drop the whole "Mass Effect" name and setting and start with something new. Why bother having a Mass Effect game with no Reapers? They were the whole reason the Mass Effect system and tech existed. What bad guys can match a race of sentient machines that are determined to wipe out all advanced intelligent life in the galaxy?

I don't want to see the Mass Effect franchise turned into some daytime soap opera with convoluted plotlines that feel like they were forced into an existing universe that had nothing to do with them. I would rather the whole franchise just ends where it did and something entirely new and fresh be built from the ground up.

The team primarily behind Mass Effect, the Edmonton studio, is in fact making a new IP. The next Mass Effect game will be handled by the new Montreal studio, who worked on certain aspects of ME2 and ME3.

So BioWare will both continue the Mass Effect universe, as well as create something new. Besides, there was that hoax that the next game would be called 'Mass Shift', but I would actually prefer a name like that. It lets you know it's the same universe, but something fresh. A new trilogy.

[Cyn]

I don't think you understand how 3rd person games work.

Perfectly well thanks

Max Payne, MGS4, GTA, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider are 3rd person games that work

Mass Effect and Gears of War are shoulder cam games that suck

Dead Space wobbles on the line between

[Ixion]

Perfectly well thanks

Max Payne, MGS4, GTA, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider are 3rd person games that work

Mass Effect and Gears of War are shoulder cam games that suck

Dead Space wobbles on the line between

The only game you mentioned that bothered me was Dead Space. Isaac took up too much of the screen. But you're zoomed out a bit more with Mass Effect, so it never bothered me.

[Cyn]

The only game you mentioned that bothered me was Dead Space. Isaac took up too much of the screen. But you're zoomed out a bit more with Mass Effect, so it never bothered me.

Dead Space is kinda both because you spend so much time in extremely tight corridors the camera has nowhere to go but when out in the open more it zooms out a bit and you can at least see his arse cheeks.

[Ixion]

By the way, in case some of you didn't read this yet, here is what ME4's director has said about the next game so far (via the official forums):

Hi guys,

It’s my first time posting on the forums, so I hope I’m going to do it right!

What Chris is saying is that thinking of the next Mass Effect game as Mass Effect 4 would imply a certain linearity, a straight evolution of the gameplay and story of the first three games. But because we are switching to a new engine and need to rebuild a bunch of game systems, we have an opportunity to rethink how we want these systems to be going forward instead of just inheriting them from the previous games. Story-wise, the arc of the first trilogy has also been concluded, and what we will do is tell a new story set in the Mass Effect universe. That doesn’t mean that events of the first three games and the choices you made won’t get recognized, but they likely won’t be what this new story will focus on.

In other words, because the game takes place before of after the first trilogy does not mean it necessarily is a straight prequel or sequel.

I’m not a big fan of analogies because the images you use always mean something different to different people, so they are inherently flawed. But let me use one anyway. :P

If you had three games centered around a group of key soldiers in the US army during World War I and then decided to make a game about another group of people during the second World War, the games could have many points in common and feel true to one another, and you likely would have to recognize how the events of the first war influenced the ones of the second, but you would not necessarily think of it as a sequel. Again, the analogy is
not great, but what I’m trying to say is that the ME universe is so rich that we are not limited to a single track when coming up with a new story.

I apologize for being cryptic right now, but it’s early enough in development that we don’t have much to share – things still fluctuate quite a bit. As I have posted on Twitter though, the overall feeling of what you are discussing and asking for is very much aligned with what the team intends on delivering, and that makes me feel very good about where we’re heading!

I hope this helps clarify why we’re not thinking of the next ME game as ME4 internally!

What makes it Mass Effect is indead the alien races, the technology, the lore, history, etc. You can safely expect those in the next Mass Effect.

While getting a Mass Effect MMO at some point is not impossible, you'll be happy to hear that this is not the game we're talking about when we talk about the next Mass Effect.

Correct, that's what I meant. Time does indeed matter, but the words prequel / midquel / sequel come loaded with a bunch of other assumptions that don't necessarily all apply to the next ME game.

Thanks!

We don't have a firm communication timeline established at this point, but I don't expect it will be for several more months. Early in development, things fluctuate so much that any detail we communicate could have to be "uncommunicated" a few months later. I think we'd rather have something solid to show by the time we step in the spotlight. You can definitely expect to hear DA3 details before ones about the next ME!

Once again, it's too early to commit to specific features, but multiplayer is something that was well received in ME3, so it is certainly not something we would outright dismiss!

Yes, you want a game that happens after ME3, that makes perfect sense

Arcian wrote...

I'm quite willing to believe that EA tells you guys to look at games like Cod and BF3 for gameplay inspiration, so take this sometimes humble fan's advice and look at Deus Ex instead.

While I'm sure EA would love to see us achieve the same level of commercial success these games do (who wouldn't!?), please believe me when I tell you they want us to do "BioWare Games"!

Thanks for the feedback... and the hazmat suit!

ADelusiveMan wrote...

Welcome to the forum, Yanick. You are definitely going to need that hazmat suit here. Maybe even a shield to go over it.

There is something I'd like bring up to you, by the way. In the original trilogy, during cutscenes, Shepard would always pull up a Predator pistol or Avenger assault rifle when facing enemies. If you choose, for example, an adept/vanguard as your character class, is it possible in ME4 that biotics could flare up instead? If you bring biotics and stuff back, that is.

This is definitely the most specific request I've gotten so far! I'll pass that on to the team!