230 réponses à ce sujet

[SwobyJ]

Too bad a war just happened and in an immediate sequel, rebuilding is what would happen.

Hypothetically. Again, I used the word immediate. 100s of years in the future, maybe not.

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 10:47 .

[Zan51]

Oh, so he sees ME4 with us as a space engineer, traveling where we can to salvage parts to fix 1 ME Relay? And it takes 1 year to travel a light year of 6 trillion miles. Gonna be an interesting game.   Either we are kicking about doing nothing for most of the time we are travelling since to get anywhere, you have to keep heading there, no time off for exploration.  Or we are gonna be in some version of cryo so we don't need resources the ships aren't built to carry, like a year of food and water between stops for one!   Especially as we can't travel to another ME relay until it is fixed at their end, and they can't tell us when they've fixed it because messages will travel slower than we do.

So just how do they plan to get this relay system up and running again, without a relay system to allow fast travel?

Modifié par Zan51, 21 novembre 2013 - 10:57 .

[Stakrin]

AlanC9 wrote...

Linkenski wrote...
One of the things he mentions is that he "would like to see a Mass Effect story where the relays no longer work". So he has heard that about the ending but I thought it was interesting to hear.

I've been pushing for that since before the EC.

but would you be confined to just Earth the whole game.

also *shivers* prequel...

[Stakrin]

Zan51 wrote...

Oh, so he sees ME4 with us as a space engineer, traveling where we can to salvage parts to fix 1 ME Relay? And it takes 1 year to travel a light year of 6 trillion miles. Gonna be an interesting game.   Either we are kicking about doing nothing for most of the time we are travelling since to get anywhere, you have to keep heading there, no time off for exploration.  Or we are gonna be in some version of cryo so we don't need resources the ships aren't built to carry, like a year of food and water between stops for one!   Especially as we can't travel to another ME relay until it is fixed at their end, and they can't tell us when they've fixed it because messages will travel slower than we do.

So just how do they plan to get this relay system up and running again, without a relay system to allow fast travel?

spaceships. Spaceships with mass effect cores that make them attracted to relays, so you can use a certain relay from a greater distance, and don't need to travel much to find it any longer.

[Rasofe]

Whenever I hear some writer say "Well, they can use conventional FTL", I feel like they didn't really think it through. It took the Reapers some 6 months to get from the Viper Nebula to presumably Kite's Nest.
For one of the writers to want a Mass Effect game where the Relays don't work... pardon, but it sounds like indoctrination to me. Guy got indoctrinated by his own mind.

[Mcfly616]

Zan51 wrote...

Oh, so he sees ME4 with us as a space engineer, traveling where we can to salvage parts to fix 1 ME Relay?

Uh.....that actually sounds like an awesome and original premise for a game that I would thoroughly enjoy in the MEU. Maybe even a next gen space sim....



Hmm the possibilities.....

[cap and gown]

Mcfly616 wrote...


Uh.....that actually sounds like an awesome and original premise for a game that I would thoroughly enjoy in the MEU. Maybe even a next gen space sim....
.

I'd rather play ME Risk.

[SwobyJ]

Just look at it as ME1-3 following the overall Soldier archetype (regardless of our class), the next game following an Engineer archetype.


Shepard was always at war, in one way or another.

Next man/woman will be always building or improving things, one way or another.

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:27 .

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but one of the foundations of the Mass Effect Universe was the Mass Relays. I don't give a flying **** if Drew K. created the universe. I don't care what he thinks about it. I want to know what everyone's vendetta is against the relays is about? Without them, they might as well, just throw out the entire thing and throw away the MEU, and start a brand new sci-fi universe without anything to do with the MEU.

Without the Mass Relays, it ceases to be Mass Effect.

Everyone is worried about doing the damned politically correct thing with the stupid endings. Bioware just has to admit they ****ed up with the ending of ME3. Period. Do the right thing and write the "Purple Ending" that ended the way it should have ended: with a destruction of the reapers only. Shepard fights the Illusive Man hand to hand, eventually the two scrambling for that one gun. TIM gets it, and Shepard turns it on him, and kills him at the end while the Crucible is attaching, then she gets up fires it from that panel, then collapses. Shepard gets rescued. Start the next game with a cut scene showing it. Sure people will whine, b****, moan and complain that their ending choice didn't matter. New Game starts... 25 years later.

Then they make some canon choices. Geth alive or not? I say at peace with the Quarians = canon. Genophage cured? Yes with Wrex, but don't make Wrex a caricature. Make Shepard something like a Councilor who is getting ready to retire, and walks with a cane. Your character won't know him/her, but this will be it.

And please Bioware, No more enemies the scale of the Reapers. Collectors? fine.There are enough problems within the MEU to explore. I'm sure you can come up with something besides a threat to the entire galaxy. Be creative.

In before ... that would lack heroism.

Keep Mass Effect as Mass Effect.

[SwobyJ]

Again, breaking the relays doesn't mean they're removed from the story. In fact, they may become more important to the plot than ever before. Listen to their words here.
Species may be scrambling to get them reconstructed or working again, making their own, etc. Theme being 'reconnection', where ME3 was 'unity'. The galaxy was united, and they'd be working like hell (or we convince them to) to keep that unity going.

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:33 .

[Rasofe]

Sorry, Shotgun, but your post essentially reduces to two things, one of which I agree with and the other not.
1. ME scifi principle is the Relays.
2. There should be canonisation of the ME trilogy.

I can't agree with the second because - given time is available and the gamer cares at all - no one in their right mind would make only one playthrough of the trilogy. So canonising the choices (and Shepards gender) can only lead to disaster.

[Stakrin]

SwobyJ wrote...

Again, breaking the relays doesn't mean they're removed from the story. In fact, they may become more important to the plot than ever before. Listen to their words here.
Species may be scrambling to get them reconstructed or working again, making their own, etc. Theme being 'reconnection', where ME3 was 'unity'. The galaxy was united, and they'd be working like hell (or we convince them to) to keep that unity going.

maybe but they are still so broken you can't see many planets and stuff.

[SwobyJ]

Even in the most purely literal view:

Destroy: Galaxy survives, Reapers dead, no transcendent improvements
Control: Galaxy survives, Reapers alive, no transcendent improvements
Synthesis: Galaxy survives, Reapers alive, transcendent improvements


I mean, I don't take the purely literal view, but that's how it goes. The writing would have to account for Reapers being around and explaining the green squigglies (heck, for all we know, they may fade away within weeks/months).

Society may improve in ways regardless, but aside from flavor dialogue, it isn't something to heavily impact a NEW storyline. The Reapers, for all we know, may just end up hiding in dark space controlled by ReaperShep. People talked so much about the Collector Base mattering, which ultimately it didn't for a new story. It ended up being a moral choice that flavored our experience, and little more. Yes, I can see even such a 'wide reaching' ME3 choice end up only changing the flavor of a new plot (obviously as always, hypothetically).


There's always a way to make things work. The tricky part is making it enjoyable and coherent.

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:43 .

[SwobyJ]

Stakrin wrote...

SwobyJ wrote...

Again, breaking the relays doesn't mean they're removed from the story. In fact, they may become more important to the plot than ever before. Listen to their words here.
Species may be scrambling to get them reconstructed or working again, making their own, etc. Theme being 'reconnection', where ME3 was 'unity'. The galaxy was united, and they'd be working like hell (or we convince them to) to keep that unity going.

maybe but they are still so broken you can't see many planets and stuff.

Well yeah, we wouldn't see as many systems. We'd instead get a more down-to-earth story with more exploration of the locations that do exist for the plotline. This doesn't limit exploration scope as a feature in itself.
Later games would, I guess, expand that further.

ME1 only really had the Attican Traverse. The Council Space and Terminus Systems etc were barely visited, if at all.

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:41 .

[Deathsaurer]

Rasofe wrote...

Sorry, Shotgun, but your post essentially reduces to two things, one of which I agree with and the other not.
1. ME scifi principle is the Relays.
2. There should be canonisation of the ME trilogy.

I can't agree with the second because - given time is available and the gamer cares at all - no one in their right mind would make only one playthrough of the trilogy. So canonising the choices (and Shepards gender) can only lead to disaster.

You can't keep making sequels with no canon. Really you can't. The longer it goes the more complicated it gets and the less important you have to make things to make it work unless you make 3 seperate games. The problem wasn't the ending, the problem is they didn't know where they were going because they didn't know where the players would go with the choices given. Something Drew said in the very interview. Writing ME2 was a mess because they couldn't just assume everyone would pick X. ME3 just shows the conclusion of this problem.

So either everyone needs to let go of Shepard entirely or an actual story has to be established.

[SwobyJ]

Deathsaurer wrote...

Rasofe wrote...

Sorry, Shotgun, but your post essentially reduces to two things, one of which I agree with and the other not.
1. ME scifi principle is the Relays.
2. There should be canonisation of the ME trilogy.

I can't agree with the second because - given time is available and the gamer cares at all - no one in their right mind would make only one playthrough of the trilogy. So canonising the choices (and Shepards gender) can only lead to disaster.

You can't keep making sequels with no canon. Really you can't. The longer it goes the more complicated it gets and the less important you have to make things to make it work unless you make 3 seperate games. The problem wasn't the ending, the problem is they didn't know where they were going because they didn't know where the players would go with the choices given. Something Drew said in the very interview. Writing ME2 was a mess because they couldn't just assume everyone would pick X. ME3 just shows the conclusion of this problem.

So either everyone needs to let go of Shepard entirely or an actual story has to be established.

ME3 cut off most choices into War Assets. I'd exect only a handful tops of major ones to impact a sequel story - ones impacting the race and galaxy more than Shepard's ME1-2+ story. If they do import, of course.

Example:
-Rachni maybe? *shrug*
-State of Krogan
-Geth, Quarian, or both
-Synthesis, Control, or Destroy (not sure if Refuse would count for them)
-Maybe fate of certain characters but not as a priority like ME3 by a long shot

That's about it. Anything else would be 'nice to haves' for the designers, I'd imagine. Those would all be necessarily attached to Shepard's story, so we don't really need to have them imported. (keyword: need. I'm sure if they wanted to have Conrad Verner around enough, it'd happen, or a ME2 squadmate cameo, whatever)

Modifié par SwobyJ, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:47 .

[Iakus]

Deathsaurer wrote...

So either everyone needs to let go of Shepard entirely or an actual story has to be established.

Which is why my vote for the next ME game is to go totally AU.  End your Shepard's story the way you want it to, then clear the slate and start a brand new story.

[Redbelle]

Linkenski wrote...

 http://media66.podbean.com/pb/122ddc3e947d96b0024a6911a713f312/528e50f9/data1/blogs24/365299/uploads/Episode108.mp3
Skip to 0:35:00 where he's asked about where he'd like things to go.

One of the things he mentions is that he "would like to see a Mass Effect story where the relays no longer work". So he has heard that about the ending but I thought it was interesting to hear.

Just FYI but feel free to share your thoughts.

Nooooo Prequel!

Continue the story after the RGB...... BW's not getting a get out of jail free card on this. They went RGB, now they have to make it work in a game continuity setting.

Harsh, I know..... but how are they ever going to learn otherwise.

As for thoughts on what could happen in a sequel. The destroyed relays could allow for his idea of the relay network not working.

It could also setup a galaxy where a new mode of traveling the galaxy that is not widespread tech and implemented in only a few ships, meaning that ships and the hero characters who fly them are more frontier captains than in previous games where you answered to a council.

[Rasofe]

@Deathsaurer
Yep. On the whole it looks like a sequel is a bad idea. A prequel isn't too smart either.
Maybe a contemporary filler game set in the same time period as ME2 but with a completely independent character set and plot? Anyway, we're going off topic.

Modifié par Rasofe, 21 novembre 2013 - 11:48 .

[Deathsaurer]

A lot of people weren't happy about the way war assets were handled though. The problem is every choice can't matter. There simply isn't a way to account for everything in a meaningful way.

[SwobyJ]

Deathsaurer wrote...

A lot of people weren't happy about the way war assets were handled though. The problem is every choice can't matter. There simply isn't a way to account for everything in a meaningful way.

Yes War Assets suck. But that's not my point.

My point was that by declaring Shepard's Story to be over, the pressure of making every choice matter, doesn't exist anymore.

They can carry a handful of major things and then move the hell on. Krogan, Geth, Quarians, Crucible. Nothing like the dozens of things we do throughout the trilogy. No sorry, that time you helped Admiral Korris won't matter, nor that time you romanced Jack. That'd all be Shepard-exclusive in mattering for anything.

[MegaSovereign]

If the premise is standalone/smaller scale then the timeline won't really matter as much as you guys think.

Bioware's focus should be making a great game with solid storytelling.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Rasofe wrote...

Sorry, Shotgun, but your post essentially reduces to two things, one of which I agree with and the other not.
1. ME scifi principle is the Relays.
2. There should be canonisation of the ME trilogy.

I can't agree with the second because - given time is available and the gamer cares at all - no one in their right mind would make only one playthrough of the trilogy. So canonising the choices (and Shepards gender) can only lead to disaster.

As a writer you are going to have to make certain canon choices. I never said Shepard's gender had to be made canon -- this one is easy. The others are not. You are going to have to make canon certain choices like the Geth, and the Genophage, and the survival of the Quarians because it will affect every single game from there on. You'll have to make two separate versions for each of them.

The same with the endings. All three of the ending choices are going to have to be tossed and one chosen that is not what we got just because you can't write three versions of every game. 

OR you are left with writing an Alternate Mass Effect Universe without the reapers. 

OR you canon the Destroy ending, set it in the year 2700 when everything is repaired, and the Quarians rebuilt some of the Geth, and AIs have been built. Canon - the genophage is cured and Wrex's first born son is in power. Your new characters won't notice.

Shepard has a statue in the Citadel that's in orbit over Earth. They have pigeons on the Citadel now. 

[Deathsaurer]

Yeah everything Shepard specific can be discounted rather easily because it doesn't matter in the big picture but there is still plenty of big picture stuff that has to be accounted for that could effect politics.

[Wulfram]

What I think could be cool would be a universe where the relays have been destroyed, but are just now (after a few decades) getting rebuilt. It's a nice set up for turmoil and intrigue, can make it easier to introduce new players to the universe in a sensible way, can bring back a sense of discovery and would have a positive element of hope and optimism that I think would be nice, rather than just being a depressing post-apocalyptic type thingy.

There are practical difficulties to a sequel of course, but a prequel really doesn't appeal to me unless they were prepared to go for something set a whole way back before there were any humans around, which I doubt would be a sensible commercial decision.