It's understandable that BioWare will want to take a break after Mass Effect 3 and 8+ long years spent working on the franchise and I believe that ultimately during the break the core team will probably decide to go on to bigger and better things but I also think that the core of the BioWare team appreciate by now that the Mass Effect universe is bigger than Shepard and the Reaper trilogy.
After all they've spent years and millions of dollars building a major video-gaming franchise and it would be unwise for the publisher to let a major property disappear from their balance sheet and so it's logical to assume that the reins of the series will be handed over to another BioWare/EA studio who will reinvigorate the franchise while leaving BioWare free to concentrate on their new ventures.
Given the rich history of the universe stretching back centuries and given the difficulty of continuing the lore after the original trilogy it would also seem logical to assume that any new studios will want to explore the major events in the universe detailed in the previous games (set largely before the arrival of humanity). The obvious choice would be a prequel trilogy of loosely connected stand-alone games starting right at the very beginning with the discovery of the citadel, foundation of the council and the Rachni wars (1) leading into a game set during the Krogan rebellions (2) and the rise of the Turians culminating finally in a (3) game set during the first contact wars.
Original prequel trilogy:
1) Mass Effect: Rachni Wars - From the perspective of the Krogan
2) Mass Effect: Krogan Rebellions - From the perspective of the Turians
3) Mass Effect: First Contact Wars - From the perspectives of Humanity and the Turians (featuring Anderson and Saren)
Further time periods/settings to explore:
4) The Prothean-era
5) The Morning War from the perspective of both the Geth and the Quarians
6) The Skylian Blitz from the perspective of the Batarians.
Potential Origin stories:
7) Wrex - early life, family, Jarod, exile, mercenary life and Aria.
8) Nihlus - pretty much a giant mystery.
9) The Life and Times of Thane Krios
My own personal idea as an example of possibilities of games set after the Reaper invasion:
10) A very Batarian Revolution: Lower-caste Batarians launch a surprise uprising against the Hegemony lead by a rag-tag group of Batarian revolutionaries made up of former prisoners, colonists, mercenaries, pirates and slaves inspired by the ideals of the Council races [they] set about to form a new republic.
Set over 100 years after the Reaper invasion: the Batarian Empire refuses to recognize the resistance movement/newly emerging state in the colonies and orders the immediate assassination of the rebel leaders and the public execution of dissenters. The hegemony alleges that the council is behind this [so called terrorist] group and you are tasked with finding out the truth.
You play a Batarian hit-man tasked with assassinating the movements leaders who slowly learns more about the fledgling democracy movement along his/her quest and begins to challenge his/her master's orders, and the morality of the Batarian caste-system and you eventually have a change of heart. Following your defection to the rebellion you are tasked with assisting the rebels in taking back the capital by assassinating your former 'masters' and their accomplices on Camala - striking right at the heart of the notorious evil empire.
*Batarian space as an example is potentially a good way of avoiding any clashes with canonical events/endings of the original trilogy yet still set within the existing Mass Effect galaxy.
Modifié par Guanxi, 15 janvier 2012 - 12:17 .
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