Wouldn't it be very cool to have a proper base/house to chill at in between missions? even better would be if you could choose on wich planet you'd have it built, giving a great sense of personalization, whilst only changing what you see outside the window.
Casey Hudson wants to hear fan's ideas on a new mass effect game
Débuté par
Dr_Brilliant
, sept. 18 2012 09:12
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#2377
Posté 02 janvier 2013 - 10:49
KingJason13
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Can we have Jack as the heroine? I WANT MOAR JACK!!!
#2378
Posté 02 janvier 2013 - 10:58
Gringo2585
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I think it would be cool to have the story take place in between mass effect 1 and 2, during the time shepard was "dead." This way the majority of the choices the player made in 2 and 3 wont drastically change the universe which would make the story easier to craft. Also I wouldn't mind being able to choose my race like in DA:O, but I doubt that would be possible if they were fully voiced.
#2379
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 12:45
Clutch Person
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I absolutely love the Mass Effect Franchise, and I would love to see another game set after this one, perhaps in the time frame of the man telling the story to his kid after the ending of the game when Shepard has become "The Shepard."
I've also always wanted to play as another race and see the strengths of each play out into a single player campaign, such as Asari having more strength in Biotics while Krogen destroy everything in their path. To have an origins story set far enough into the future that most of the major decisions in ME3 no longer matter would be ideal to me. You could even add in some new species and show what happened after the conclusion of ME3.
I've also always wanted to play as another race and see the strengths of each play out into a single player campaign, such as Asari having more strength in Biotics while Krogen destroy everything in their path. To have an origins story set far enough into the future that most of the major decisions in ME3 no longer matter would be ideal to me. You could even add in some new species and show what happened after the conclusion of ME3.
#2380
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 04:26
evilgummybear
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How about a mass effect 3 expansion not a DLC.
majority of ME3 fans here feel that the ending didnt give it a proper closure to the game.
Its one of the main reasons it was a dissapointment. Alot of chars from me2 got left out of the game.
Also harbringer was a really good villian in me2. Would like to see him play an important role.
Shepards story, the ending was inconclusive. If your going to end his story, then end it properly so we can have a good closure.
majority of ME3 fans here feel that the ending didnt give it a proper closure to the game.
Its one of the main reasons it was a dissapointment. Alot of chars from me2 got left out of the game.
Also harbringer was a really good villian in me2. Would like to see him play an important role.
Shepards story, the ending was inconclusive. If your going to end his story, then end it properly so we can have a good closure.
#2381
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 01:06
harbinger of war
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Here is my vision of how Mass effect 4 should be.
First you have to have a save file transfer from Mass effect 3 so you could have all the events you have chosen throughout Shepard's story, and what ending you chose so you could see the choices your Shepard made.
If Rachni are completely destroyed from the galaxy then they do not appear in Mass Effect 4. and that goes with Geth. Krogan, Qurian and Reapers. If you cure the Genophage and create the Alliance between Qurians and Geth, choose to save the Rachni queen and choose the control ending then the Reapers, Qurians, Geth, Rachni, and krogan will be present in Mass Effect 4
Have Two canon endings: Control or Destroy ending
Have to bring the two new species in the game: The Raloi and the Yahg and a couple of ancient races as well.
Make this Mass Effect boss battles harder because I find myself flying by boss fights on insanity difficulty. Also make the campaign longer with more side missions and more main missions.
Bio-Ware please could you do one thing for me, by making your character full body customizable. I think fans would love that so you can make your character as buff as James Vaga or have big breasts and ass, that I think would blow all your fans minds. Could you please also have a better verity of causal clothing please like around 20 choices which you need to by at stores in the new mass effect universe please and thank you.
A new enemy which should be a Hanar with the rank of high prophet and is in charge of a growing religious group called the path of righteousness and his protector a Drell master Assassin with an army of mercs some lesser prophet Hanar and Drell.
get all new companions to join you on your journey to stop the plan of the religious group called the path of righteousness and get your mother Liara back. their should be at least 10 companions that you can have on your team. and a new ship that you could name it what ever you want.
Start the epilogue around 200 years after the events of Mass Effect 3 so all the races at least have some time to rebuild what they have lost. I think that the main protagonist of Mass Effect 4 should at first be Liara because bio-ware made it look like she was important enough because she survived all three games while other characters can die off. Though she is not the character you play with for the whole game, you only play her during the Epilogue which starts off around a prothean ruin sight because the prothean race still captivates her, even though she has already saw a prothean in the fleash she still thinks their is more to their race then Javik. While on the this ancient site which their are no enemies at first all your doing is picking up data. when all of asudden all hell breaks loose when five dropships land near the sight and start attacking and killing her agents. You don't know what their intentions arebut she knows they are not allies. While in the fight of your life trying to get back to your base camp with two shadow broker agents and that's when you see your enemy which is a Drell Assassin but the real boss is a Hanar, later when you finally get back to base alive after sneaking, killing behind enemy lines, then your true character comes out which is Liara's daughter who you get to fully customize. and then your story starts when Liara has been kidnapped by this new enemy and it's your job to create a team to go after the people who took your mother aka(Liara) and rescue her. while you are doing covert ops and ransacking hideouts try to find the whereabouts of your mother slowly you start realizing their sinister plan, before you began this mission because you wanted Liara back, now it's all you can do to stop them before they're plan comes to fruition to start a civil war between the council races and bio engineering an army of Protheans for an unknown cause, but their is something more sinister then this group lurking in the depths of some planets that are about to make their move to try and take over the entire galaxy.
First you have to have a save file transfer from Mass effect 3 so you could have all the events you have chosen throughout Shepard's story, and what ending you chose so you could see the choices your Shepard made.
If Rachni are completely destroyed from the galaxy then they do not appear in Mass Effect 4. and that goes with Geth. Krogan, Qurian and Reapers. If you cure the Genophage and create the Alliance between Qurians and Geth, choose to save the Rachni queen and choose the control ending then the Reapers, Qurians, Geth, Rachni, and krogan will be present in Mass Effect 4
Have Two canon endings: Control or Destroy ending
Have to bring the two new species in the game: The Raloi and the Yahg and a couple of ancient races as well.
Make this Mass Effect boss battles harder because I find myself flying by boss fights on insanity difficulty. Also make the campaign longer with more side missions and more main missions.
Bio-Ware please could you do one thing for me, by making your character full body customizable. I think fans would love that so you can make your character as buff as James Vaga or have big breasts and ass, that I think would blow all your fans minds. Could you please also have a better verity of causal clothing please like around 20 choices which you need to by at stores in the new mass effect universe please and thank you.
A new enemy which should be a Hanar with the rank of high prophet and is in charge of a growing religious group called the path of righteousness and his protector a Drell master Assassin with an army of mercs some lesser prophet Hanar and Drell.
get all new companions to join you on your journey to stop the plan of the religious group called the path of righteousness and get your mother Liara back. their should be at least 10 companions that you can have on your team. and a new ship that you could name it what ever you want.
Start the epilogue around 200 years after the events of Mass Effect 3 so all the races at least have some time to rebuild what they have lost. I think that the main protagonist of Mass Effect 4 should at first be Liara because bio-ware made it look like she was important enough because she survived all three games while other characters can die off. Though she is not the character you play with for the whole game, you only play her during the Epilogue which starts off around a prothean ruin sight because the prothean race still captivates her, even though she has already saw a prothean in the fleash she still thinks their is more to their race then Javik. While on the this ancient site which their are no enemies at first all your doing is picking up data. when all of asudden all hell breaks loose when five dropships land near the sight and start attacking and killing her agents. You don't know what their intentions arebut she knows they are not allies. While in the fight of your life trying to get back to your base camp with two shadow broker agents and that's when you see your enemy which is a Drell Assassin but the real boss is a Hanar, later when you finally get back to base alive after sneaking, killing behind enemy lines, then your true character comes out which is Liara's daughter who you get to fully customize. and then your story starts when Liara has been kidnapped by this new enemy and it's your job to create a team to go after the people who took your mother aka(Liara) and rescue her. while you are doing covert ops and ransacking hideouts try to find the whereabouts of your mother slowly you start realizing their sinister plan, before you began this mission because you wanted Liara back, now it's all you can do to stop them before they're plan comes to fruition to start a civil war between the council races and bio engineering an army of Protheans for an unknown cause, but their is something more sinister then this group lurking in the depths of some planets that are about to make their move to try and take over the entire galaxy.
#2382
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 04:32
Hazegurl
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-No prequel!
-I wanna be a space pirate or if you want to keep the whole renegade/paragon deal then let us choose the type of profession, background et al with pirate as a renegade career.
-Perhaps allow us to buy or build our own ship.
-A good crew with decent characters (no company favorites!!)
-Anyone can die, no plot armors
-Let me pick a team to head out on missions without me or at least make missions more task oriented like in the suicide mission in ME2. Picking someone for the wrong task can result in death.
-I want some mention of whether or not Shepard survived in ME3 (if you pick destroy and get the perfect ending. I didn't play multi-player for nothing)
-Speaking of the endings, allow players to import whatever choices made in ME3 so we can see the outcome of those choices in ME4
-If not then make it a parallel universe where the reapers never happened (anything to avoid the cliche prequel route)
-More romance options, and dates et al with LI. better romance dialog and interaction. Let me have a gay male character from the start with more gay options.
-Want face and body customizing with more good looking male options!
-I wanna be a space pirate or if you want to keep the whole renegade/paragon deal then let us choose the type of profession, background et al with pirate as a renegade career.
-Perhaps allow us to buy or build our own ship.
-A good crew with decent characters (no company favorites!!)
-Anyone can die, no plot armors
-Let me pick a team to head out on missions without me or at least make missions more task oriented like in the suicide mission in ME2. Picking someone for the wrong task can result in death.
-I want some mention of whether or not Shepard survived in ME3 (if you pick destroy and get the perfect ending. I didn't play multi-player for nothing)
-Speaking of the endings, allow players to import whatever choices made in ME3 so we can see the outcome of those choices in ME4
-If not then make it a parallel universe where the reapers never happened (anything to avoid the cliche prequel route)
-More romance options, and dates et al with LI. better romance dialog and interaction. Let me have a gay male character from the start with more gay options.
-Want face and body customizing with more good looking male options!
#2383
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 05:18
RareFreak
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One of my favorite things about the Mass Effect series is the feeling of immersion. The first Mass Effect game was the champion in this regard, followed by Mass Effect 2, then Mass Effect 3.
Mass effect 1 was immersive in two main regards; the world along with the elevator loading times and the cinematic dialogue. The world was immersive because they felt open and big, and using elevators as loading times was a good idea because it was integrated into the game play and there was banter that was funny or informative. Having a world that feels open makes the game more fun, it suits the Scifi setting, the tight level structure of ME2 and ME3 made the game feel linear and small, I want to feel like the galaxy is huge, not contained.
With regards to the cinematic dialogue, both Mass effect 1 and 2 had this in abundance. I am not referring to the main plot or side quests here, but the dialogue with the squadmates. My favorite part of Mass Effect and Bioware games in general is the feeling of immersing myself into the world of the squadmates. In ME3, a lot of this dialogue was just banter. To be clear, the banter between the squadmates is great, however, when I the player want to talk with the squadmates, I want it to feel personal. Them just blurting out their feelings is just not immersive. I loved how Mass Effect 1 during the cinematic dialogue, had the camera zoomed in close to the character's face, I actually prefer this to ME2 and ME3's more full body zoom.
Another aspect of the cinematic dialogue with the squadmates is the place where they occur. To me, the citadel did not feel personal, not like the normandy. The normandy just felt so atmospheric, it was the surrounding, the quiet music, and the feeling of being close to your squadmates that I loved. Having a dinner with Kaidan or going to the memorial with Ashely did not feel immersive, because there was no actual dinner, and the memorial didn't feel like a memorial. However, on the ship, we were just talking personally, and this felt believable, real and atmospheric, I feel due to limited resources, this is the best approach, because having an actual dinner with Kaidan would cost too much, but talking to him in the normandy, is more personal, atmospheric, and doesn't cost as much as the requirement to feel immersed on the citadel with him.
Continuing with dialogue with squadmates, I loved Mass Effect 1 style with after every main mission, we could look forward to talking to our squadmates on the normandy. I know the mission structure of ME2 and ME3 makes this hard to do, and I don't want more but shorter dialogue (because it would kill the immersion), but its something to think about. Speaking of shorter dialogue, ME3 had plenty of this, while ME1 and ME2 did not. I don't know if there was just more spread out in ME3 and just with shorter amount of dialogue, but the overall effect was that it felt less. This also true in regards to the romance dialogue, it felt like ME1 and ME2 just had more, these games had a sweet spot in terms of dialogue and romance dialogue, I hope you go back to ME1 and ME2 style.
Finally, although to some this may seem trivial, I feel it greatly enhanced immersion, and both ME1 and ME2 had it. Even if the squadmates have no new dialogue, I still want a cinematic conversation, with the 'investigate' button! It seems to me that this was removed to stop the likes of "Can it wait a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." but the cost of its removal is too high! I liked being able to see Garrus up close and personal, I can no longer do this in ME3, now Garrus feels distant, and hey "calibrations" is a funny meme. I feel this doesn't cost much to maintain, but its removal cost too much immersion.
So for Mass Effect 4, I hope the key word is "immersion". Combat in the Mass Effect series is great now, but the character interaction and world exploration are lacking. These are the areas that need work on. Since Mass effect 4 will probably be on next gen, console limitations shouldn't stop Bioware from going back to Mass effect 1's route of levels feeling like open world levels. I also hope Mass Effect 4 will try to make the dialogue between squadmates cinematic again, no banter (except between squadmates), and I hope it will be in a place that oozes with atmosphere.
The universe of Mass Effect is huge, creating a new story with new characters should be easy, just don't forget to make it feel immersive.
Mass effect 1 was immersive in two main regards; the world along with the elevator loading times and the cinematic dialogue. The world was immersive because they felt open and big, and using elevators as loading times was a good idea because it was integrated into the game play and there was banter that was funny or informative. Having a world that feels open makes the game more fun, it suits the Scifi setting, the tight level structure of ME2 and ME3 made the game feel linear and small, I want to feel like the galaxy is huge, not contained.
With regards to the cinematic dialogue, both Mass effect 1 and 2 had this in abundance. I am not referring to the main plot or side quests here, but the dialogue with the squadmates. My favorite part of Mass Effect and Bioware games in general is the feeling of immersing myself into the world of the squadmates. In ME3, a lot of this dialogue was just banter. To be clear, the banter between the squadmates is great, however, when I the player want to talk with the squadmates, I want it to feel personal. Them just blurting out their feelings is just not immersive. I loved how Mass Effect 1 during the cinematic dialogue, had the camera zoomed in close to the character's face, I actually prefer this to ME2 and ME3's more full body zoom.
Another aspect of the cinematic dialogue with the squadmates is the place where they occur. To me, the citadel did not feel personal, not like the normandy. The normandy just felt so atmospheric, it was the surrounding, the quiet music, and the feeling of being close to your squadmates that I loved. Having a dinner with Kaidan or going to the memorial with Ashely did not feel immersive, because there was no actual dinner, and the memorial didn't feel like a memorial. However, on the ship, we were just talking personally, and this felt believable, real and atmospheric, I feel due to limited resources, this is the best approach, because having an actual dinner with Kaidan would cost too much, but talking to him in the normandy, is more personal, atmospheric, and doesn't cost as much as the requirement to feel immersed on the citadel with him.
Continuing with dialogue with squadmates, I loved Mass Effect 1 style with after every main mission, we could look forward to talking to our squadmates on the normandy. I know the mission structure of ME2 and ME3 makes this hard to do, and I don't want more but shorter dialogue (because it would kill the immersion), but its something to think about. Speaking of shorter dialogue, ME3 had plenty of this, while ME1 and ME2 did not. I don't know if there was just more spread out in ME3 and just with shorter amount of dialogue, but the overall effect was that it felt less. This also true in regards to the romance dialogue, it felt like ME1 and ME2 just had more, these games had a sweet spot in terms of dialogue and romance dialogue, I hope you go back to ME1 and ME2 style.
Finally, although to some this may seem trivial, I feel it greatly enhanced immersion, and both ME1 and ME2 had it. Even if the squadmates have no new dialogue, I still want a cinematic conversation, with the 'investigate' button! It seems to me that this was removed to stop the likes of "Can it wait a bit? I'm in the middle of some calibrations." but the cost of its removal is too high! I liked being able to see Garrus up close and personal, I can no longer do this in ME3, now Garrus feels distant, and hey "calibrations" is a funny meme. I feel this doesn't cost much to maintain, but its removal cost too much immersion.
So for Mass Effect 4, I hope the key word is "immersion". Combat in the Mass Effect series is great now, but the character interaction and world exploration are lacking. These are the areas that need work on. Since Mass effect 4 will probably be on next gen, console limitations shouldn't stop Bioware from going back to Mass effect 1's route of levels feeling like open world levels. I also hope Mass Effect 4 will try to make the dialogue between squadmates cinematic again, no banter (except between squadmates), and I hope it will be in a place that oozes with atmosphere.
The universe of Mass Effect is huge, creating a new story with new characters should be easy, just don't forget to make it feel immersive.
Modifié par RareFreak, 03 janvier 2013 - 05:26 .
#2384
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 08:10
zyntifox
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@Rarefreak - Well put, i agree completely. The way dialogue is handled in ME3 with your squad members feels so impersonal.
#2385
Posté 03 janvier 2013 - 09:43
twystedspyder
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huh... sure, why not...
First and Foremost. Just in case it wasn't clear. ME4 needs to be an RPG. Not a squad based shooter. A Role Playing Game. Thank you.
As for the details... well, I personally don't think we need to be all that picky.
I really would prefer a sequel of some sort. Not a direct sequel, mind you. Preferably something set some time after the events of the Reaper Invasion, possibly even directly afterwards. A prequel wouldn't be welcomed, but if done exceptionally well, I suppose we can curtail our rage somewhat. Just no "First Contact War" lazyness please. Pretty much sick of Turians.
New Protagonist. Bioware wanted to say goodbye to Shepard. They did that. Fine. No backpedaling. Move on. Just make sure we get to name him/her. I'm ok with sticking with only Human protagonists, honestly. Add some depth to the background idea from ME and make sure it ties into the narrative significantly.
Something New! No Alliance Military. No Cerberus. No Reapers. No returning squad mates. At least not as a main part of the plot/setting. Play with the story. Have fun. Surprise us. Please.
There needs to be a ship, hell maybe even the Normandy, now obsolete and mothballed by the Alliance, utilized by a crew of outlaws just trying to get by and stay under Citadel radar... Basically make Firefly.
No Trilogies. In fact, I'd actually prefer all future games in the ME universe are effectivly stand alone. It takes some of the presure off of Bioware as developers and the fans don't have as many expectations. The ME Trilogy was a bold and exciting idea that I feel ultimately fell flat due to the limitations of the market... mostly. Put that sort of thinking on the back burner. At least for now.
Finally: More Elcor. More Hanar. More Volus. More Varren. More Space Hamsters!
*EDIT (spelling is hard)
First and Foremost. Just in case it wasn't clear. ME4 needs to be an RPG. Not a squad based shooter. A Role Playing Game. Thank you.
As for the details... well, I personally don't think we need to be all that picky.
I really would prefer a sequel of some sort. Not a direct sequel, mind you. Preferably something set some time after the events of the Reaper Invasion, possibly even directly afterwards. A prequel wouldn't be welcomed, but if done exceptionally well, I suppose we can curtail our rage somewhat. Just no "First Contact War" lazyness please. Pretty much sick of Turians.
New Protagonist. Bioware wanted to say goodbye to Shepard. They did that. Fine. No backpedaling. Move on. Just make sure we get to name him/her. I'm ok with sticking with only Human protagonists, honestly. Add some depth to the background idea from ME and make sure it ties into the narrative significantly.
Something New! No Alliance Military. No Cerberus. No Reapers. No returning squad mates. At least not as a main part of the plot/setting. Play with the story. Have fun. Surprise us. Please.
There needs to be a ship, hell maybe even the Normandy, now obsolete and mothballed by the Alliance, utilized by a crew of outlaws just trying to get by and stay under Citadel radar... Basically make Firefly.
No Trilogies. In fact, I'd actually prefer all future games in the ME universe are effectivly stand alone. It takes some of the presure off of Bioware as developers and the fans don't have as many expectations. The ME Trilogy was a bold and exciting idea that I feel ultimately fell flat due to the limitations of the market... mostly. Put that sort of thinking on the back burner. At least for now.
Finally: More Elcor. More Hanar. More Volus. More Varren. More Space Hamsters!
*EDIT (spelling is hard)
Modifié par twystedspyder, 03 janvier 2013 - 09:46 .
#2386
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 02:24
DJ CAVE SLAVE
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I have one demand...
Geth squadmate. You may now all shriek in great surprise at this request.
Geth squadmate. You may now all shriek in great surprise at this request.
#2387
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 05:00
CalPal
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I had talked about this earlier in the day with a bunch of internet buddies on how a future ME4 game could be designed. Well, with spare time on my hands and having had a bunch of ideas thrown around - as well as a crap-tonne of jokes to accompany them - this is what I'd want to add to ME4. Keep in mind that I will be using other games as examples of how an idealized Mass Effect game should operate and, in preparation for the flames, there WILL BE at least one controversial opinion that people may not like me for. Also, I am assuming a ME4 would take place far in the future, so far beyond the events of ME3 that nearly everyone - save maybe Grunt and Liara - have long died from ageing or other appropriate deaths.
Firstly, non-permanent crew members. In FTL, you commanded a ship and crew that, at any time in your adventure, could die from anything from a lucky shot from an enemy ship to a boarding mission gone wrong to a chance failure on a event. With an ME4 game, this aspect of the uncertainty of a crew's life should be combined with ME2's loyalty and death rating, only this works on EVERY mission, including the side missions.
Let me elaborate: suppose you go on to a planet with an Asari and Batarian team that you haven't earned the loyalty of yet. Depending on how loyal your crew member are and depending on how well you do on a mission - how much medi-gel you use, how much ammo is used, how many times you have to revive your team-mates, etc. - you could leave the planet unscathed, or you could end up losing one of your soldiers, or one of your non-loyal soldiers get's so mangled they get put in the medibay and this forces you to pick other team-mates until they recovered, which I believe would add so much more to the idea of keeping people alive.
Continuing with FTL, random encounters needs to be a thing that happens in ME4, either while on the Citadel or in space. In space, this could go in numerous ways. In one scenario, you find a distress signal with a ship that's caught fire and needs help. You could choose to board the ship and attempt to put out the flames - using a fire extinguisher that plays like a flamethrower - you could attempt to save as many of the other crew as you can, or you can simply leave them or even wait for the crew to die so you can take valuable parts from them. Another scenario might be travelling around a system when you're suddenly ambushed by Pirates who knock out your engines and prepare to board. So you take all the crew that you have and head down to the cargo bay to fight them off. Kinda like in ME2's Oculus encounter, except this time, there's a crap-tonne of pirates and EVERY CREW MEMBER in your ship of FIGHTING CONDITION will be down there to assist you. Imagine this like a single-player version of "Mission 11".
This is my controversial second opinion. The reason why I include it is because the two games which I will use as an example have done it rather well, especially in the case of the last one. So here it is, my second recommendation: episodic gaming.
*le gasp*
We have seen this done in Halo 4's Spartan Ops and - more memorably - in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. The reason why I'm recommending this is that, with the previous method of releasing a full game and adding plot-relevant DLC later, it worked for the Shepard Trilogy because there was an overarching story relating to the return and defeat of the Reapers, along with a few outstanding questions that only DLC could answer. Without any real plot to follow in ME4, however, this might not work as well, since I can hardly imagine where one might go for a main plot. My proposition would instead to develop many side missions and characters for us to interact with and perhaps a few missions hinting at the "main plot" for the game which the writers could work on over time, then develop the plot in later episodes while also adding more side quests and characters to interact with, eventually culminating in the final episode where we then head off into a new trilogy (maybe?).
With the Reapers gone, what's left in the Mass Effect Universe is ultimately the galaxy Shepard saved. It would be more fitting, in my opinion, to develop a game that focuses on exploring this galaxy than one which tries to immediately build up a new plot from the very start. Give us some fun first with checking everything out in the galaxy we have post-Reaper, then slowly through episodic content reveal to us a new story which you want to take us down.
Thirdly, Krogan football. Yes, I said it, and it is around on the internet somewhere, but I truly think that American Football being adopted by the Krogans is amazing for good reasons. Firstly, it shows the Krogans wanting to fit in with galactic society by adopting a part of human culture that they feel would compliment Krogan culture and their focus on clans, building their teams around clans and winning a Wrex or Shepard Cup or whatever, something silly like that. As well, it shows just how far humanity has come, that we were first taking in knowledge and understanding and maybe even customs from other alien species; now other alien species are taking these things from humans. Finally, just imagine Krogans playing Football. Enough said.
Fourthly, Dragon Age: Origin's character customization. ME3 MP has already let us play as nearly all the races of the galaxy, so ME4 might as well go one step further and allow us to do what was done in DA:O - customize and flesh out a character with their own back story, then give them the keys to a ship and let them fly through the galaxy and see how they relate to the people you meet along the way. As well, the game should start with giving us the option to choose between one of the three endings from ME3, allowing us to experience different side quests and noticing all these differences between each game. I wouldn't go as far as to import an ME3 save since, like I said before, an ideal ME4 occurring ~500 years after the Reaper War would negate pretty much all the little decisions or outcomes - key word: little, like finding the amulet of the Asari's lover on Illium - Shepard made in his/her trilogy, which would likely never live on for many people to remember anyways (Hell, in ME1's customization screen, Shepard's data was corrupted, so we don't even know what s/he LOOKS like!)
Finally, we need recruitable characters that aren't so loveable and have varying relationships with other crew. The first part may sound weird, but imagine having the equivalent of pre-Sovereign Saren on your team, or a Batarian Slaver. This is what I'm trying to imagine: you may be free to pick whoever you want on your ship, but not every choice is a good choice, especially if some crew can't get along at all and threaten to decrease morale on the ship or, even worse, the number of living people on the ship. This could even tie back to my first point, with non-permanent crew: eventually, you'll have to choose like with Legion and Tali or Miranda and Jack, only this time, there's no persuading either side to get along - one or the other, in the most extreme cases.
So yeah, this is my two cents on the subject. What do you guys think?
Firstly, non-permanent crew members. In FTL, you commanded a ship and crew that, at any time in your adventure, could die from anything from a lucky shot from an enemy ship to a boarding mission gone wrong to a chance failure on a event. With an ME4 game, this aspect of the uncertainty of a crew's life should be combined with ME2's loyalty and death rating, only this works on EVERY mission, including the side missions.
Let me elaborate: suppose you go on to a planet with an Asari and Batarian team that you haven't earned the loyalty of yet. Depending on how loyal your crew member are and depending on how well you do on a mission - how much medi-gel you use, how much ammo is used, how many times you have to revive your team-mates, etc. - you could leave the planet unscathed, or you could end up losing one of your soldiers, or one of your non-loyal soldiers get's so mangled they get put in the medibay and this forces you to pick other team-mates until they recovered, which I believe would add so much more to the idea of keeping people alive.
Continuing with FTL, random encounters needs to be a thing that happens in ME4, either while on the Citadel or in space. In space, this could go in numerous ways. In one scenario, you find a distress signal with a ship that's caught fire and needs help. You could choose to board the ship and attempt to put out the flames - using a fire extinguisher that plays like a flamethrower - you could attempt to save as many of the other crew as you can, or you can simply leave them or even wait for the crew to die so you can take valuable parts from them. Another scenario might be travelling around a system when you're suddenly ambushed by Pirates who knock out your engines and prepare to board. So you take all the crew that you have and head down to the cargo bay to fight them off. Kinda like in ME2's Oculus encounter, except this time, there's a crap-tonne of pirates and EVERY CREW MEMBER in your ship of FIGHTING CONDITION will be down there to assist you. Imagine this like a single-player version of "Mission 11".
This is my controversial second opinion. The reason why I include it is because the two games which I will use as an example have done it rather well, especially in the case of the last one. So here it is, my second recommendation: episodic gaming.
*le gasp*
We have seen this done in Halo 4's Spartan Ops and - more memorably - in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. The reason why I'm recommending this is that, with the previous method of releasing a full game and adding plot-relevant DLC later, it worked for the Shepard Trilogy because there was an overarching story relating to the return and defeat of the Reapers, along with a few outstanding questions that only DLC could answer. Without any real plot to follow in ME4, however, this might not work as well, since I can hardly imagine where one might go for a main plot. My proposition would instead to develop many side missions and characters for us to interact with and perhaps a few missions hinting at the "main plot" for the game which the writers could work on over time, then develop the plot in later episodes while also adding more side quests and characters to interact with, eventually culminating in the final episode where we then head off into a new trilogy (maybe?).
With the Reapers gone, what's left in the Mass Effect Universe is ultimately the galaxy Shepard saved. It would be more fitting, in my opinion, to develop a game that focuses on exploring this galaxy than one which tries to immediately build up a new plot from the very start. Give us some fun first with checking everything out in the galaxy we have post-Reaper, then slowly through episodic content reveal to us a new story which you want to take us down.
Thirdly, Krogan football. Yes, I said it, and it is around on the internet somewhere, but I truly think that American Football being adopted by the Krogans is amazing for good reasons. Firstly, it shows the Krogans wanting to fit in with galactic society by adopting a part of human culture that they feel would compliment Krogan culture and their focus on clans, building their teams around clans and winning a Wrex or Shepard Cup or whatever, something silly like that. As well, it shows just how far humanity has come, that we were first taking in knowledge and understanding and maybe even customs from other alien species; now other alien species are taking these things from humans. Finally, just imagine Krogans playing Football. Enough said.
Fourthly, Dragon Age: Origin's character customization. ME3 MP has already let us play as nearly all the races of the galaxy, so ME4 might as well go one step further and allow us to do what was done in DA:O - customize and flesh out a character with their own back story, then give them the keys to a ship and let them fly through the galaxy and see how they relate to the people you meet along the way. As well, the game should start with giving us the option to choose between one of the three endings from ME3, allowing us to experience different side quests and noticing all these differences between each game. I wouldn't go as far as to import an ME3 save since, like I said before, an ideal ME4 occurring ~500 years after the Reaper War would negate pretty much all the little decisions or outcomes - key word: little, like finding the amulet of the Asari's lover on Illium - Shepard made in his/her trilogy, which would likely never live on for many people to remember anyways (Hell, in ME1's customization screen, Shepard's data was corrupted, so we don't even know what s/he LOOKS like!)
Finally, we need recruitable characters that aren't so loveable and have varying relationships with other crew. The first part may sound weird, but imagine having the equivalent of pre-Sovereign Saren on your team, or a Batarian Slaver. This is what I'm trying to imagine: you may be free to pick whoever you want on your ship, but not every choice is a good choice, especially if some crew can't get along at all and threaten to decrease morale on the ship or, even worse, the number of living people on the ship. This could even tie back to my first point, with non-permanent crew: eventually, you'll have to choose like with Legion and Tali or Miranda and Jack, only this time, there's no persuading either side to get along - one or the other, in the most extreme cases.
So yeah, this is my two cents on the subject. What do you guys think?
#2388
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 07:47
karushna5
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I would very much like it to be a sequel as long as a few choices were reflected. Quarian/geth, Krogan genophage, and the Final Choice. Some people have suggested making two or only one choice cannon, but this will be very disappointing for others who chose synthesis or control, and it really will feel as if there was not a choice.
I love the idea of the new hero being a non soldier. And while I feel the Batarians, thresher Maws, and other back stories have been fleshed out, if you make the main character human, and it just makes more sense in this case than in Dragon Age, start them on Earth. Make them poor, and hard and make it grow? I like how KotOR started small and grew larger, unlike Hawke who started pretty awesome it felt, maybe with Varrics storytelling or how awesome she handled things, and then she got smaller handling petty things. When the hero starts out amazing it feels off and un exciting building yourself up because you are already too good to mess with it.
Start poor, or as someone small, on Earth in the future, and slowly embroil them into a plot, maybe for something selfish like saving a kid brother, a kid is less likely to be hated by the players, or for the glory or to save everyone. Instead of maybe a good/tough meter, a priorities meter. Then maybe the ending feels worked for all the time. Like say for synthesis being the far end, destroy being the other, and control being the middle. And you know what you are working towards the entire time, like working against the Krogan is destroy and people can say you did what it took to destroy the enemy, while saving them and making peace would be a synthesis or peace, and someone can say that peace will be more possible between organics and synthetics. Morality is hard to measure, but I like the idea of the work you do provides you an ending. And it makes your choices matter more, and more likely to play, as it is Renegade Shep has no real options by being renegade, she makes renegade choices but her renegade bar doesn't really mean something, except that she made those choices, but if like in KotOR your morality mark shows a plot development it would be cool. Then in the end you could choose a different choice, but to choose against your grain will destroy you.
As far as everything else, I would like anything you choose to put out, and bioware makes great characters, my only complaint was that Merrill, Fenris, and Anders were very similar as they were all devoted to a cause so much it made them a bit fanatical, but it says a lot that even within that you have an air head, an amnesiac, and a demon possessed character. So I will trust the devs. I would like a new alien, but with so much already, that might be asking a lot. Also it would be cool to make a big choice in the beginning that would shape the game, like if instead of the Ogre killing your brother or sister, you saved one, After Having Met Them, this is important, we knew Jenkins better than the Hawke siblings and if we could pick one of our companions in the beginning it would mean a lot to perceived player choice. Meet both characters that have some meaning to the hero, and make us choose who will look after things and who I will take along, like a best friend or a sibling.
This would be no different than the choice of Kaiden or Ashley except it will happen in the beginning and might make players think it would be nice to get them next time around, or two friends and each be romance able which might be cool, either way it would feel like I have choice even when thrust into a plot I can't control.
I love the idea of the new hero being a non soldier. And while I feel the Batarians, thresher Maws, and other back stories have been fleshed out, if you make the main character human, and it just makes more sense in this case than in Dragon Age, start them on Earth. Make them poor, and hard and make it grow? I like how KotOR started small and grew larger, unlike Hawke who started pretty awesome it felt, maybe with Varrics storytelling or how awesome she handled things, and then she got smaller handling petty things. When the hero starts out amazing it feels off and un exciting building yourself up because you are already too good to mess with it.
Start poor, or as someone small, on Earth in the future, and slowly embroil them into a plot, maybe for something selfish like saving a kid brother, a kid is less likely to be hated by the players, or for the glory or to save everyone. Instead of maybe a good/tough meter, a priorities meter. Then maybe the ending feels worked for all the time. Like say for synthesis being the far end, destroy being the other, and control being the middle. And you know what you are working towards the entire time, like working against the Krogan is destroy and people can say you did what it took to destroy the enemy, while saving them and making peace would be a synthesis or peace, and someone can say that peace will be more possible between organics and synthetics. Morality is hard to measure, but I like the idea of the work you do provides you an ending. And it makes your choices matter more, and more likely to play, as it is Renegade Shep has no real options by being renegade, she makes renegade choices but her renegade bar doesn't really mean something, except that she made those choices, but if like in KotOR your morality mark shows a plot development it would be cool. Then in the end you could choose a different choice, but to choose against your grain will destroy you.
As far as everything else, I would like anything you choose to put out, and bioware makes great characters, my only complaint was that Merrill, Fenris, and Anders were very similar as they were all devoted to a cause so much it made them a bit fanatical, but it says a lot that even within that you have an air head, an amnesiac, and a demon possessed character. So I will trust the devs. I would like a new alien, but with so much already, that might be asking a lot. Also it would be cool to make a big choice in the beginning that would shape the game, like if instead of the Ogre killing your brother or sister, you saved one, After Having Met Them, this is important, we knew Jenkins better than the Hawke siblings and if we could pick one of our companions in the beginning it would mean a lot to perceived player choice. Meet both characters that have some meaning to the hero, and make us choose who will look after things and who I will take along, like a best friend or a sibling.
This would be no different than the choice of Kaiden or Ashley except it will happen in the beginning and might make players think it would be nice to get them next time around, or two friends and each be romance able which might be cool, either way it would feel like I have choice even when thrust into a plot I can't control.
#2389
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 09:54
TheAussieRocket
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If they are going to another Mass Effect set after the trilogy I think they should do this: Create your character from scratch: Import your save file from Mass Effect 3 and all choices and the ME3 ending effects the entire 4th game.
One of the pet peevs I had with Mass Effect is in ME1 Shepard is already a hero, eg: Sykllian Blitz, Akuze. But I think in this new game we should take over an entirely new character who starting out as a unknown. And aswell picking between Male & Female.. you can choose what race you want to be: Human, Turian, Krogan, Asari.
Instead of picking and choosing whose on your crew and being the commander of the ship, you are apart of the squad under the commander/captain. Less pressure is put upon you and you can develope relationships with your fellow crew and tour the ship like in the trilogy. I think in this one the main protagionist should be your character, not a Shepard. I would liken it to a MMORPG the ability to create a brand new character in this Mass Effect universe and shape how you want it to be as you rise through the ranks and become the new hero.
I would like cameos from major characters in the Mass Effect universe, but I don't like it seeing as it will all be Garrus, Liara, Tali, Ashley/Kaiden all over again. I think they should bring entirely unknown brand new characters to interact with and if it's written like Mass Effect 2, it will work.
The ship you can tour on should be bigger and totally fresh and different from the normandy in amost every way. I grown sick of the normandy. I want a new ship to walk about on. From what I understand the Normandy is a Turian design helped by the humans, so why not on a Human styled ship.
The only thing I seem to be stuck on is what you're fighting. I mean the reapers are defeated by whatever your Shep did, Control, Destory etc. So whats left in the galaxy to fight? Krogan Rebllions 2? Rachni Was 2? The ambitions of the Humans? Volus!? Who the **** knows seriously.
But after all that said I would just like a fresh new take on the new Mass Effect, totally new characters, new places and a kickass story.
One of the pet peevs I had with Mass Effect is in ME1 Shepard is already a hero, eg: Sykllian Blitz, Akuze. But I think in this new game we should take over an entirely new character who starting out as a unknown. And aswell picking between Male & Female.. you can choose what race you want to be: Human, Turian, Krogan, Asari.
Instead of picking and choosing whose on your crew and being the commander of the ship, you are apart of the squad under the commander/captain. Less pressure is put upon you and you can develope relationships with your fellow crew and tour the ship like in the trilogy. I think in this one the main protagionist should be your character, not a Shepard. I would liken it to a MMORPG the ability to create a brand new character in this Mass Effect universe and shape how you want it to be as you rise through the ranks and become the new hero.
I would like cameos from major characters in the Mass Effect universe, but I don't like it seeing as it will all be Garrus, Liara, Tali, Ashley/Kaiden all over again. I think they should bring entirely unknown brand new characters to interact with and if it's written like Mass Effect 2, it will work.
The ship you can tour on should be bigger and totally fresh and different from the normandy in amost every way. I grown sick of the normandy. I want a new ship to walk about on. From what I understand the Normandy is a Turian design helped by the humans, so why not on a Human styled ship.
The only thing I seem to be stuck on is what you're fighting. I mean the reapers are defeated by whatever your Shep did, Control, Destory etc. So whats left in the galaxy to fight? Krogan Rebllions 2? Rachni Was 2? The ambitions of the Humans? Volus!? Who the **** knows seriously.
But after all that said I would just like a fresh new take on the new Mass Effect, totally new characters, new places and a kickass story.
#2390
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 09:57
aM1ty
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Few ideas I have floating around in my head.
1. No Shepard: The Shepard trilogy is over we don't need him to be floating around in the sequels. His journey ended in Mass Effect 3, although it ended in a way not many of us enjoy or support, so we don't need him to fuel this trilogy or push it forward in any way.
2. Keep the ending to the finale of the next trilogy/saga SIMPLE: No ghost AI children, no random plot points trying to mind FreaK us if it has to be a plain, boring happy ending keep it that way do NOT jeopardise the fans willing to stay around for your next set of games. You can't possibly expect everyone who loved ME 1,2 and 3 to come flocking to 4 especially considering previous mistakes or even the fact that Shepard, hopefully, won't be returning. Do NOT risk losing the supporters of this franchise because you want to be a little tricky, and if you do decide to add a plot twist help us understand it heck spend months on it if you have to.
3. The main character can't be a soldier of any sort: No retired soldiers, no returning soldiers, NO SOLDIERS. I wouldn't mind if you brought back every other soldier we've seen before just don't force us to play as them. We've played the soldier before try something new. How about a space pirate? Or an ex-mobster? Try something else so we can have more insight on what it's like to be apart of the Mass Effect universe on someone who possibly isn't thinking for the good of the galaxy.
4. Please don't make a Prequel: Keep Prequels in the forms of books, tv shows, movies and IOS games. Prequels are better off as a part of an expanded universe. The feeling of playing a game and not knowing what's going to happen next is much more exciting than playing a game knowing what the future is going to hold.
5. No reapers or anything universe threatening: Please don't try anything like the reapers again and don't bring in any sort of opposing force that is going to threaten the entire universe. We've played as the person who united everyone in the galaxy and saved the universe. Give us a smaller goal but make us feel as if the stakes are as equally high. With a good team of writers this can be done.
That's all I got for now I'll reply with more when they come to me. Or I'll edit this.
6. Allow us to import ME3 save or even include some sort of program allowing us to make the same decisions as we did before: The only way you could possibly ignore this is if you make a canon storyline. And I don't mean so we can import endings, I'm expecting you to pick an ending and make us play off of it. But we need to see Krogan if we cured the genophage, we need to see Turian's if we chose to keep them alive, we need no Rachni if we decided to kill them.
1. No Shepard: The Shepard trilogy is over we don't need him to be floating around in the sequels. His journey ended in Mass Effect 3, although it ended in a way not many of us enjoy or support, so we don't need him to fuel this trilogy or push it forward in any way.
2. Keep the ending to the finale of the next trilogy/saga SIMPLE: No ghost AI children, no random plot points trying to mind FreaK us if it has to be a plain, boring happy ending keep it that way do NOT jeopardise the fans willing to stay around for your next set of games. You can't possibly expect everyone who loved ME 1,2 and 3 to come flocking to 4 especially considering previous mistakes or even the fact that Shepard, hopefully, won't be returning. Do NOT risk losing the supporters of this franchise because you want to be a little tricky, and if you do decide to add a plot twist help us understand it heck spend months on it if you have to.
3. The main character can't be a soldier of any sort: No retired soldiers, no returning soldiers, NO SOLDIERS. I wouldn't mind if you brought back every other soldier we've seen before just don't force us to play as them. We've played the soldier before try something new. How about a space pirate? Or an ex-mobster? Try something else so we can have more insight on what it's like to be apart of the Mass Effect universe on someone who possibly isn't thinking for the good of the galaxy.
4. Please don't make a Prequel: Keep Prequels in the forms of books, tv shows, movies and IOS games. Prequels are better off as a part of an expanded universe. The feeling of playing a game and not knowing what's going to happen next is much more exciting than playing a game knowing what the future is going to hold.
5. No reapers or anything universe threatening: Please don't try anything like the reapers again and don't bring in any sort of opposing force that is going to threaten the entire universe. We've played as the person who united everyone in the galaxy and saved the universe. Give us a smaller goal but make us feel as if the stakes are as equally high. With a good team of writers this can be done.
That's all I got for now I'll reply with more when they come to me. Or I'll edit this.
6. Allow us to import ME3 save or even include some sort of program allowing us to make the same decisions as we did before: The only way you could possibly ignore this is if you make a canon storyline. And I don't mean so we can import endings, I'm expecting you to pick an ending and make us play off of it. But we need to see Krogan if we cured the genophage, we need to see Turian's if we chose to keep them alive, we need no Rachni if we decided to kill them.
Modifié par aM1ty, 04 janvier 2013 - 10:09 .
#2391
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 11:55
jancz89
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I've seen a few polls about if ME4 should be a prequel or sequel but why if couldn't play during the events of ME1,2 or 3 ? you want to tell me that in this wast enourmous galaxy, nothing interesting happened except Shepard's adventure? that's bullpoop
it's 3-4 years of events, and nothing else similarily epic happened during that time? I don't buy it
it's 3-4 years of events, and nothing else similarily epic happened during that time? I don't buy it
#2392
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 12:09
CARL_DF90
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After keeping an eye on this thread I have only one thing to suggest. Whatever form ME4 (or whatever it'll be called) takes it should not make the same bone-headed mistakes made by ME3. And whatever claims to the contrary that are made, those of us gamers who have been around for a while could tell that ME3 was rushed out the door. The quality of the product was inferior to it's predecessors in many aspects and it has driven away MANY fans and consumers, but that's a conversation for another thread. My advice for Bioware HQ is to take it's time to collect data and NOT rush through development. Take your time on the project so we don't have any re-runs of the same debacles of the past.
Modifié par CARL_DF90, 04 janvier 2013 - 12:11 .
#2393
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 12:57
Pyrple Haze
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much more gear, customization possibilities (both weapons, ships and characters), powers/skills and also maybe make it more rpg with different races and quests/storylines that differs from your race. definitely a better multiplayer with much more to it, not only this wave thing and random shop where you most of the time only get gear that you don't want or need! make or freakin real shop where you decide what you wanna buy
#2394
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 01:37
Dezerte
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Sequal, I feel that playing a game knowing full well what lies ahead will ruin the mystery and story.
Canon, so in the case of a sequal there almost has to be a canon ending to ME3. But maybe there can be ways around to minimize the relevance of it. Keep it simple/vauge, and try to mention it as little as possible (keeping in mind the only persons who witnessed the inner workings of the crucible are both dead, so there are no witnesses left for history to record).
Consistency, Don't repeat the mistakes made in the last 15 minutes of ME3. I always loved the ME universe because it had a narrative coherence and it made for a belieable universe, one that I could even imagine could be true in the far future (until the ME3 ending).
Canon, so in the case of a sequal there almost has to be a canon ending to ME3. But maybe there can be ways around to minimize the relevance of it. Keep it simple/vauge, and try to mention it as little as possible (keeping in mind the only persons who witnessed the inner workings of the crucible are both dead, so there are no witnesses left for history to record).
Consistency, Don't repeat the mistakes made in the last 15 minutes of ME3. I always loved the ME universe because it had a narrative coherence and it made for a belieable universe, one that I could even imagine could be true in the far future (until the ME3 ending).
#2395
Posté 04 janvier 2013 - 01:55
Zubi Fett
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I only have two "requests" or advices:
The first one would be that secondary mission may return.The ones of ME and ME2 where exploring the galaxy could result into a new, interesting and optional mission, which I consider to be an important part of Mass Effect. .
The second is somehow similar, which I explain on my blog: social.bioware.com/1146280/blog/228027/
Thank you.
The first one would be that secondary mission may return.The ones of ME and ME2 where exploring the galaxy could result into a new, interesting and optional mission, which I consider to be an important part of Mass Effect. .
The second is somehow similar, which I explain on my blog: social.bioware.com/1146280/blog/228027/
Thank you.
Modifié par Zubi Fett, 04 janvier 2013 - 01:56 .
#2397
Posté 05 janvier 2013 - 06:26
DSwift
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- Covert special forses operations from all factions. Human, Asari, etc. Could open up new opions with co-op and multiplayer as well. Play as characters like the N7 Fury or Asari huntress.
- Start at the red ending of and go from there. "The Rebuild" as it where...
- Start at the red ending of and go from there. "The Rebuild" as it where...
#2398
Posté 05 janvier 2013 - 09:45
SpeshMeh
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CalPal, I really like some of
the ideas you have brought up and want to share my thoughts on them.
While I believe a sequel is the best way to go in terms of avoiding being bogged down by the numerous combinations of the previous decisions and the infamous ending I still support the universe that Bioware took a lot of love and care in building. I want to see ME4 be a ‘passing the baton’ in terms of story from veteran characters like Garrus, Liara, Wrex and Tali, showing them as older and wiser mentor type roles, for the new generation of space adventurers that would better give those well loved characters a decent send off. I would like to see it set around ten years later in a galaxy still reeling from the Reaper onslaught with the social and political frictions between the races still intact.
Perma-Deaths are an undervalued gaming mechanic that adds a level of risk and makes the player seriously consider their actions which Bioware used very well in ME1 as well as other games like XCOM. Not sure if being exposed to it all the way through the game would work. It would be kinda frustrating that you’ve worked hard with your favorite characters only for them to be taken out by a “Lucky shot” in a side mission. I would stick to just adding life or death choices at key parts of the story.
But non permanent crew members would work well. ME3 sort of covered this with a choice of doctor and the chance to bring the engineers back. Having them as recruitable npcs that have specific roles and bonuses to your ship (ie. Medics improve squad recovery times, Engineers boost ship damage and shields etc). Not only that, having them with their own little special dialogue with you or other team members and crew would add huge variety.
Boarding mission sounds awesome as a concept and could be a huge sell to the multiplayer market as well as a good mission mechanic in singleplayer. Star Wars Battlefront would be an example of how they mix mid-air dog fights with base infiltration that would stand out against COD and Halo multiplayers.
Loyalty and loyalty missions along with special loyalty influenced discussions was great in ME2 and should have been expanded upon. More than just survivability this should be a serious LOYALTY system where at a certain point in story one of your own team betrays you from within and sets you up for the fall. Then follow this up with a chance to win the turncoat back or getting vengeance. ME1 made us deal with the hard choices of sacrifice, now let us deal with betrayal.
Once again the space battle element would work with this. Having alerts come in as you explore a system on the galactic map then having to run to the cargo bay, grab your armor, join your team and instantly begin battle would be a huge win. This could even be used for planet exploration/resource gathering segments that kept the novelty of exploring planets from ME1 but was not dragged out by negotiating terrain. Just explore a planet in your shuttle/fighter have fights against air and ground units then land your team in a safe spot for them to infiltrate the base/bunker.
I would like it to go back to the ME1 and ME2 setup where it was split into two acts. First part covers several
episodic story missions that can be done in any order at your leisure, but still contributes to the main storyline. The first act would let you explore and see the changes the trilogy had on the universe as well as adding new races, characters and environments to the franchise. The second act would then start with a single incident that would push the story and begin to reveal the results and choices you made along the way.
As for the main plot, a well written galactic civil war could work. I know its Star Warsy but it could work. First act is
you finding allies in a galaxy in recovery, its political frictions escalating with each move you make. Panic ratings for each race would be affected by your actions (See XCOM: Enemy Unknown) with negative ratings prompting that race to defect from the Council. All the while a manipulating force sparks off an incident that puts you in the frame and starts the conflict. Second act would have you choose sides ie. The Reformed Council vs Independants and end the war as quickly as possible, whilst apprehending this third party threat playing both sides against each other. DLC episodes would go into the first act or an addional story element in a certain part of the second half.
Don’t discount the reapers too much. Having a control ending or destroy ending still puts a reaper type faction in
play. The shepard controlled reapers (Control) or the Leviathans (Destroy) would act as a neutral party who when the war breaks out would decide to intervene with devastating consequences. Your job as the player would be to stop the galaxy from destroying itself before they decide its beyond saving.
My god you are a legend for this idea. Krogans using contact sports and gladiatorial bouts as an outlet for their aggression as well as a opportunity to see more of their culture is a clever idea for the Krogan to become more
integrated into galactic society and no longer the pariah species. May I also add being able to have a minigame of skyllian five poker. You could play against a number of species, each one at a certain difficulty with Elcor at the
hardest. Playing poker against an elcor would be awesome.
You could take the little things out of the data transfer and just bring over the key decisions from the trilogy (IE,
Virmire, Wrex, Destiny Ascension, Suicide Mission, Priotities Tuchaunka and Rannoch, RedBlueGreen, etc), I still wanna have the consequences of those decisions in galactic politics.
Greater customization is a must and would like to see it expanded to ship, armour and weapons too. Being able to
add ship mods, non combatant crew and ship detailing would be nice, have a tech tree for ship upgrades, armor and weapon research would go along way as well.
As a side note can we have more variety with the npcs. The same species models in a choice of a few
similar outfits is a shame. Lets have a fat turian in a political suit chatting to his bulky armoured asarii bodyguard. Give me variety in crowd model sheets.
Good call on this one. Once again they have got to get the voice acting for these characters right as well. Maybe a character from a species who have only just discovered spaceflight and is making a choice on whether to
join the citadel races. They would represent the new players persepective on the universe. Batarian squadmate would work too. A couple of guys have mentioned it and I like it too. Would love to see an honorable batarian trying to change the image of the now endangered species.
Great ideas and I hope to hear more of you ideas. Hope you take a look at my responses and say what you think.
Sorry this post is so long but you put up a good post and wanted to respond in detail.
the ideas you have brought up and want to share my thoughts on them.
CalPal wrote...
I had talked about this earlier in the day with a bunch of internet buddies on how a future ME4 game could be designed. Well, with spare time on my hands and having had a bunch of ideas thrown around - as well as a crap-tonne of jokes to accompany them - this is what I'd want to add to ME4. Keep in mind that I will be using other games as examples of how an idealized Mass Effect game should operate and, in preparation for the flames, there WILL BE at least one controversial opinion that people may not like me for. Also, I am assuming a ME4 would take place far in the future, so far beyond the events of ME3 that nearly everyone - save maybe Grunt and Liara - have long died from ageing or other appropriate deaths.
While I believe a sequel is the best way to go in terms of avoiding being bogged down by the numerous combinations of the previous decisions and the infamous ending I still support the universe that Bioware took a lot of love and care in building. I want to see ME4 be a ‘passing the baton’ in terms of story from veteran characters like Garrus, Liara, Wrex and Tali, showing them as older and wiser mentor type roles, for the new generation of space adventurers that would better give those well loved characters a decent send off. I would like to see it set around ten years later in a galaxy still reeling from the Reaper onslaught with the social and political frictions between the races still intact.
CalPal wrote...
Firstly, non-permanent crew members. In FTL, you commanded a ship and crew that, at any time in your adventure, could die from anything from a lucky shot from an enemy ship to a boarding mission gone wrong to a chance failure on a event. With an ME4 game, this aspect of the uncertainty of a crew's life should be combined with ME2's loyalty and death rating, only this works on EVERY mission, including the side missions.
Perma-Deaths are an undervalued gaming mechanic that adds a level of risk and makes the player seriously consider their actions which Bioware used very well in ME1 as well as other games like XCOM. Not sure if being exposed to it all the way through the game would work. It would be kinda frustrating that you’ve worked hard with your favorite characters only for them to be taken out by a “Lucky shot” in a side mission. I would stick to just adding life or death choices at key parts of the story.
But non permanent crew members would work well. ME3 sort of covered this with a choice of doctor and the chance to bring the engineers back. Having them as recruitable npcs that have specific roles and bonuses to your ship (ie. Medics improve squad recovery times, Engineers boost ship damage and shields etc). Not only that, having them with their own little special dialogue with you or other team members and crew would add huge variety.
Boarding mission sounds awesome as a concept and could be a huge sell to the multiplayer market as well as a good mission mechanic in singleplayer. Star Wars Battlefront would be an example of how they mix mid-air dog fights with base infiltration that would stand out against COD and Halo multiplayers.
CalPal wrote...
Let me elaborate: suppose you go on to a planet with an Asari and Batarian team that you haven't earned the loyalty of yet. Depending on how loyal your crew member are and depending on how well you do on a mission - how much medi-gel you use, how much ammo is used, how many times you have to revive your team-mates, etc. - you could leave the planet unscathed, or you could end up losing one of your soldiers, or one of your non-loyal soldiers get's so mangled they get put in the medibay and this forces you to pick other team-mates until they recovered, which I believe would add so much more to the idea of keeping people alive.
Loyalty and loyalty missions along with special loyalty influenced discussions was great in ME2 and should have been expanded upon. More than just survivability this should be a serious LOYALTY system where at a certain point in story one of your own team betrays you from within and sets you up for the fall. Then follow this up with a chance to win the turncoat back or getting vengeance. ME1 made us deal with the hard choices of sacrifice, now let us deal with betrayal.
CalPal wrote...
Continuing with FTL, random encounters needs to be a thing that happens in ME4, either while on the Citadel or in space. In space, this could go in numerous ways. In one scenario, you find a distress signal with a ship that's caught fire and needs help. You could choose to board the ship and attempt to put out the flames - using a fire extinguisher that plays like a flamethrower - you could attempt to save as many of the other crew as you can, or you can simply leave them or even wait for the crew to die so you can take valuable parts from them. Another scenario might be travelling around a system when you're suddenly ambushed by Pirates who knock out your engines and prepare to board. So you take all the crew that you have and head down to the cargo bay to fight them off. Kinda like in ME2's Oculus encounter, except this time, there's a crap-tonne of pirates and EVERY CREW MEMBER in your ship of FIGHTING CONDITION will be down there to assist you. Imagine this like a single-player version of "Mission 11".
Once again the space battle element would work with this. Having alerts come in as you explore a system on the galactic map then having to run to the cargo bay, grab your armor, join your team and instantly begin battle would be a huge win. This could even be used for planet exploration/resource gathering segments that kept the novelty of exploring planets from ME1 but was not dragged out by negotiating terrain. Just explore a planet in your shuttle/fighter have fights against air and ground units then land your team in a safe spot for them to infiltrate the base/bunker.
CalPal wrote...
This is my controversial second opinion. The reason why I include it is because the two games which I will use as an example have done it rather well, especially in the case of the last one. So here it is, my second recommendation: episodic gaming.
*le gasp*
We have seen this done in Halo 4's Spartan Ops and - more memorably - in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. The reason why I'm recommending this is that, with the previous method of releasing a full game and adding plot-relevant DLC later, it worked for the Shepard Trilogy because there was an overarching story relating to the return and defeat of the Reapers, along with a few outstanding questions that only DLC could answer. Without any real plot to follow in ME4, however, this might not work as well, since I can hardly imagine where one might go for a main plot. My proposition would instead to develop many side missions and characters for us to interact with and perhaps a few missions hinting at the "main plot" for the game which the writers could work on over time, then develop the plot in later episodes while also adding more side quests and characters to interact with, eventually culminating in the final episode where we then head off into a new trilogy (maybe?).
I would like it to go back to the ME1 and ME2 setup where it was split into two acts. First part covers several
episodic story missions that can be done in any order at your leisure, but still contributes to the main storyline. The first act would let you explore and see the changes the trilogy had on the universe as well as adding new races, characters and environments to the franchise. The second act would then start with a single incident that would push the story and begin to reveal the results and choices you made along the way.
As for the main plot, a well written galactic civil war could work. I know its Star Warsy but it could work. First act is
you finding allies in a galaxy in recovery, its political frictions escalating with each move you make. Panic ratings for each race would be affected by your actions (See XCOM: Enemy Unknown) with negative ratings prompting that race to defect from the Council. All the while a manipulating force sparks off an incident that puts you in the frame and starts the conflict. Second act would have you choose sides ie. The Reformed Council vs Independants and end the war as quickly as possible, whilst apprehending this third party threat playing both sides against each other. DLC episodes would go into the first act or an addional story element in a certain part of the second half.
CalPal wrote...
With the Reapers gone, what's left in the Mass Effect Universe is ultimately the galaxy Shepard saved. It would be more fitting, in my opinion, to develop a game that focuses on exploring this galaxy than one which tries to immediately build up a new plot from the very start. Give us some fun first with checking everything out in the galaxy we have post-Reaper, then slowly through episodic content reveal to us a new story which you want to take us down.
Don’t discount the reapers too much. Having a control ending or destroy ending still puts a reaper type faction in
play. The shepard controlled reapers (Control) or the Leviathans (Destroy) would act as a neutral party who when the war breaks out would decide to intervene with devastating consequences. Your job as the player would be to stop the galaxy from destroying itself before they decide its beyond saving.
CalPal wrote...
Thirdly, Krogan football. Yes, I said it, and it is around on the internet somewhere, but I truly think that American Football being adopted by the Krogans is amazing for good reasons. Firstly, it shows the Krogans wanting to fit in with galactic society by adopting a part of human culture that they feel would compliment Krogan culture and their focus on clans, building their teams around clans and winning a Wrex or Shepard Cup or whatever, something silly like that. As well, it shows just how far humanity has come, that we were first taking in knowledge and understanding and maybe even customs from other alien species; now other alien species are taking these things from humans. Finally, just imagine Krogans playing Football. Enough said.
My god you are a legend for this idea. Krogans using contact sports and gladiatorial bouts as an outlet for their aggression as well as a opportunity to see more of their culture is a clever idea for the Krogan to become more
integrated into galactic society and no longer the pariah species. May I also add being able to have a minigame of skyllian five poker. You could play against a number of species, each one at a certain difficulty with Elcor at the
hardest. Playing poker against an elcor would be awesome.
CalPal wrote...
Fourthly, Dragon Age: Origin's character customization. ME3 MP has already let us play as nearly all the races of the galaxy, so ME4 might as well go one step further and allow us to do what was done in DA:O - customize and flesh out a character with their own back story, then give them the keys to a ship and let them fly through the galaxy and see how they relate to the people you meet along the way. As well, the game should start with giving us the option to choose between one of the three endings from ME3, allowing us to experience different side quests and noticing all these differences between each game. I wouldn't go as far as to import an ME3 save since, like I said before, an ideal ME4 occurring ~500 years after the Reaper War would negate pretty much all the little decisions or outcomes - key word: little, like finding the amulet of the Asari's lover on Illium - Shepard made in his/her trilogy, which would likely never live on for many people to remember anyways (Hell, in ME1's customization screen, Shepard's data was corrupted, so we don't even know what s/he LOOKS like!)
You could take the little things out of the data transfer and just bring over the key decisions from the trilogy (IE,
Virmire, Wrex, Destiny Ascension, Suicide Mission, Priotities Tuchaunka and Rannoch, RedBlueGreen, etc), I still wanna have the consequences of those decisions in galactic politics.
Greater customization is a must and would like to see it expanded to ship, armour and weapons too. Being able to
add ship mods, non combatant crew and ship detailing would be nice, have a tech tree for ship upgrades, armor and weapon research would go along way as well.
As a side note can we have more variety with the npcs. The same species models in a choice of a few
similar outfits is a shame. Lets have a fat turian in a political suit chatting to his bulky armoured asarii bodyguard. Give me variety in crowd model sheets.
CalPal wrote...
Finally, we need recruitable characters that aren't so loveable and have varying relationships with other crew. The first part may sound weird, but imagine having the equivalent of pre-Sovereign Saren on your team, or a Batarian Slaver. This is what I'm trying to imagine: you may be free to pick whoever you want on your ship, but not every choice is a good choice, especially if some crew can't get along at all and threaten to decrease morale on the ship or, even worse, the number of living people on the ship. This could even tie back to my first point, with non-permanent crew: eventually, you'll have to choose like with Legion and Tali or Miranda and Jack, only this time, there's no persuading either side to get along - one or the other, in the most extreme cases.
Good call on this one. Once again they have got to get the voice acting for these characters right as well. Maybe a character from a species who have only just discovered spaceflight and is making a choice on whether to
join the citadel races. They would represent the new players persepective on the universe. Batarian squadmate would work too. A couple of guys have mentioned it and I like it too. Would love to see an honorable batarian trying to change the image of the now endangered species.
CalPal wrote...
So yeah, this is my two cents on the subject. What do you guys think?
Great ideas and I hope to hear more of you ideas. Hope you take a look at my responses and say what you think.
Sorry this post is so long but you put up a good post and wanted to respond in detail.
#2399
Posté 05 janvier 2013 - 10:29
SpeshMeh
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- Members
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karushna5 wrote...
I love the idea of the new hero being a non soldier. And while I feel the Batarians, thresher Maws, and other back stories have been fleshed out, if you make the main character human, and it just makes more sense in this case than in Dragon Age, start them on Earth. Make them poor, and hard and make it grow? I like how KotOR started small and grew larger, unlike Hawke who started pretty awesome it felt, maybe with Varrics storytelling or how awesome she handled things, and then she got smaller handling petty things. When the hero starts out amazing it feels off and un exciting building yourself up because you are already too good to mess with it.
I hear a lot of requests from people in this forum for non-soldier leads. I think its a good idea and creates a different perspective to the storyline. What if this was done in a more fleshed out detailed personal history like that is of the beginning of ME1, for example;
Promoted Captain - Demonstrating good leadership and combat skills during the assault on Earth you were enroled into the Alliance training programme. Your time as a soldier was hard due to conflicts with poor commanders and your own concience and as a result your career in the military failed to climb. Out of the blue you have been recommended for a command position on a special project. (Paragon Bonus)
Mercenary - A survivor of the reaper invasion your skills have been remarked upon amongst the mercenary guilds but have chosen to be a lone wolfe contractor whose chooses their own contracts. The council have offered you a long term contract with a huge payout to command a special project.(No Moral Bonus)
Pirate - Learning to survive on your own instincts during the reaper invasion you have since amassed great renown and infamy for being a space pirate pillaging both military and civillian vessels. But your fame has been your undoing as the council eventually capture your ship and crew and are now facing time. However a deal is offered. To clear your record and have a fresh start you have to take command of a new project. (Renegade Bonus)
Something along these lines. Having a choice of who our character was before we get our hands on him would please the variety of character ideas we all have.
karushna5 wrote...
Start poor, or as someone small, on Earth in the future, and slowly embroil them into a plot, maybe for something selfish like saving a kid brother, a kid is less likely to be hated by the players, or for the glory or to save everyone. Instead of maybe a good/tough meter, a priorities meter. Then maybe the ending feels worked for all the time. Like say for synthesis being the far end, destroy being the other, and control being the middle. And you know what you are working towards the entire time, like working against the Krogan is destroy and people can say you did what it took to destroy the enemy, while saving them and making peace would be a synthesis or peace, and someone can say that peace will be more possible between organics and synthetics. Morality is hard to measure, but I like the idea of the work you do provides you an ending. And it makes your choices matter more, and more likely to play, as it is Renegade Shep has no real options by being renegade, she makes renegade choices but her renegade bar doesn't really mean something, except that she made those choices, but if like in KotOR your morality mark shows a plot development it would be cool. Then in the end you could choose a different choice, but to choose against your grain will destroy you.
Starting small sounds great for a new character. Having the new character seem in over his head in contrast to the ever calm shepard would be a plus, and then they toughen up as the game progresses.
Never thought about develping the morality bar into a priorities mechanic, good shout. You could have them expanded to categories like Morals, Resources, Reputation, Survival. These priorities that can go up and go into negatives as well as be affected by mission choices, converstion options etc. You actions can boost some and not others along with the effects that could reward or punish you. For example choosing to save a politician instead of taking a payoff from a merc group makes you more appealing to paragon characters and factions but has made it harder to get good deals on new kit for them or this time you take a hit for a squadmate or npc that gains you the respect of your crew and others but makes you less concerned about your own survivability confering defence and HP deductions.
Modifié par SpeshMeh, 05 janvier 2013 - 10:30 .
#2400
Posté 06 janvier 2013 - 07:00
Pyroninja42
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Something with Batarians in the Terminus Systems. Batarian ****s. Do it, Bioware.
