424 réponses à ce sujet

[Handmaiden]

My hope is that there will be playable aliens with a few different backstories per race that affects the story here and there similar to Earth-born/Colonist/Spacer backstories in the current games. That might take some extra work, but would be totally awesome. Like some of the options could be Krogan Mercenary, Drell Assassin, Asari Justicar etc.

 

Personally, I want to play as an escaped Ardat-Yakshi and romance as many characters as possible. I must feed! Muahahahaha...  

 

(Copy and pasted this post of mine from another suggestion thread of what you want the main character to be in ME4 since it works for this thread too)

[Karlone123]

I'm for race selection in dragon age for the main character but not so much for a universe like Mass Effect. As interesting as the other alien races are, they do not appeal to me that much. I prefer a human character in Mass Effect.

[CirusTheVirus666]

I honestly hope there is no multiple races...for the main story. For multiplayer that would be fine but not for the main quest.  I will always be human, I could not relate with some alien when the story is so important to the game and hours long as it is with previous Mass Effect games. With all the other aliens, how can you find a main vision of the game when (say if the aliens have different opening missions) is so fractured like that? I believe in order to make a good story and thats relatable with people, you need one race and that should be human. I hope the make the main quest story line for the hero something different though, like a mercenary or bounty hunter or private dick. Taking a case, wandering the galaxy, picking up different/complex companions and finding clues to a bigger story, or hunting for a bounty just for the money and then discovering that leads to something bigger, some conspiracy. I think that would be pretty awesome!

[Handmaiden]

I have a strong feeling that playable aliens will be options though, not because I want it. Because BioWare tweeted asking "What would you like to see in the next Mass Effect game?" and there was a follow-up tweet by them later that said something along the lines of "Thanks for all of your suggestions, playable aliens seems to be a popular suggestion". I don't think they would comment on that if they didn't consider it. But who knows? It could have just been a meaningless tweet, or they could've changed their minds since then (I hope not).

 

I think the ME trilogy was enough for us to get associated with the different species' culture, physiology and story enough for us to feel comfortable picking them. And yeah we wouldn't relate to non-humans as much, but I didn't relate to Commander Shepard either, really. I'm not the military type at all. But it was fun being in a bad-ass space commander's shoes, and I think it would be fun to be in an exotic alien's shoes too  And sometimes in RPGs, the non-humans have personalities I identify with more.

 

Just my opinion.

[Vespervin]

 

My hope is that there will be playable aliens with a few different backstories per race that affects the story here and there similar to Earth-born/Colonist/Spacer backstories in the current games. That might take some extra work, but would be totally awesome. Like some of the options could be Krogan Mercenary, Drell Assassin, Asari Justicar etc.

 

Personally, I want to play as an escaped Ardat-Yakshi and romance as many characters as possible. I must feed! Muahahahaha...  

 

(Copy and pasted this post of mine from another suggestion thread of what you want the main character to be in ME4 since it works for this thread too)

 

 

That is what I was trying to say with my main post. Kind of like how Shepard had his/her backstories which changed the game a little bit, for ME(4) you could have a Quarian with the Flotilla as the back story, and as you've said a Drell Assassin would have back story, maybe in a similar way Thane had his.

[fhs33721]

I'm for race selection in dragon age for the main character but not so much for a universe like Mass Effect. As interesting as the other alien races are, they do not appeal to me that much. I prefer a human character in Mass Effect.

Then chose a human character in the Character creator. I doubt anyone will be forcing you to actually play an alien.

[Vespervin]

Then chose a human character in the Character creator. I doubt anyone will be forcing you to actually play an alien.

 

Indeed. Feel free to play as Human, but the options for other races should be there.

[EatChildren]

Species choice for player character is totally possible, and in my opinion likely to happen, due to it being an (apparently) hotly requested feature from fans.

 

Logistically it's doable if they stick to the basic bipedal species: human, turian, asari, maybe salarian/quarian. Expecting every species is a reach, but this is doable, as animations could be shared across species, and though the required voice work would be greater demand it's possible to keep a standard male/female voice work with the appropriate audio filters for each species. After all, Dragon Age: Inquisition not only has multiple playable species, but two male and female voice variations to chose from.

 

Thematically it's also entirely possible. If people require humans to connect to their protagonist that's fine: BioWare/EA won't go the rout of market suicide and cut playable humans from the roster. But thematically it's still possible to offer multiple species. With the Mass Effect trilogy part of the reason you're locked to human (logistics of development aside) is that the plot is very humanity centric. "Humanity" and its place in galactic society is a core theme throughout, especially prominent in the first game and the last. Shepard's story arc in the first title requires a human perspective to work. It's integral to his/her growth, objectives, and challenges. None of this will be applicable in Mass Effect 4, no matter where it's set in the canon, unless BioWare deliberately writes another plot that has a boner for all things human. Context is important. Playing as a human was contextually relevant to the Mass Effect trilogy's narrative, but humanity is not the core theme of -all- narratives. A story about, say, military + colonists sent on a voyage to uncharted systems accessed through newly unlocked relays and coming into contact with mysterious new species has no specific importance to the player's chosen species. You don't need to be human to tell this story and being human doesn't necessarily give it any more substance. Ergo, in this situation selectable species is applicable.

 

But yes, I think we'll see it, and I think it'll be restricted to four or so 'core' species, humanity included.

[Vespervin]

Species choice for player character is totally possible, and in my opinion likely to happen, due to it being an (apparently) hotly requested feature from fans.

 

Logistically it's doable if they stick to the basic bipedal species: human, turian, asari, maybe salarian/quarian. Expecting every species is a reach, but this is doable, as animations could be shared across species, and though the required voice work would be greater demand it's possible to keep a standard male/female voice work with the appropriate audio filters for each species. After all, Dragon Age: Inquisition not only has multiple playable species, but two male and female voice variations to chose from.

 

Thematically it's also entirely possible. If people require humans to connect to their protagonist that's fine: BioWare/EA won't go the rout of market suicide and cut playable humans from the roster. But thematically it's still possible to offer multiple species. With the Mass Effect trilogy part of the reason you're locked to human (logistics of development aside) is that the plot is very humanity centric. "Humanity" and its place in galactic society is a core theme throughout, especially prominent in the first game and the last. Shepard's story arc in the first title requires a human perspective to work. It's integral to his/her growth, objectives, and challenges. None of this will be applicable in Mass Effect 4, no matter where it's set in the canon, unless BioWare deliberately writes another plot that has a boner for all things human. Context is important. Playing as a human was contextually relevant to the Mass Effect trilogy's narrative, but humanity is not the core theme of -all- narratives. A story about, say, military + colonists sent on a voyage to uncharted systems accessed through newly unlocked relays and coming into contact with mysterious new species has no specific importance to the player's chosen species. You don't need to be human to tell this story and being human doesn't necessarily give it any more substance. Ergo, in this situation selectable species is applicable.

 

But yes, I think we'll see it, and I think it'll be restricted to four or so 'core' species, humanity included.

 

Good post, I hope you're right.

If BioWare did deliver on this, I would expect the following to be possible (long list):

 

- Human

- Asari

- Drell

- Turian

- Salarian

- Quarian

- Batarian

- Geth (unlikely, but another form of Geth, like Legion, would be pretty.... interesting)

- Vorcha

 

Out of that, I would can only think of Human, Asari, Drell, Turian, Salarian, Quarian, and maybe Batarian.

[Sequin]

There are few things I am truly "hoping for" in terms of what the next game will feature... but playable aliens is one of them. The thought of playing an Asari for an entire ME game... yes please!

[ozthegweat]

"You're crazy, Vespervin" is what your probably thinking. "Why would a Krogan work for the Alliance and/or the Citadel?" Think of this. Make the back story for the character somewhat generic. Make it so our character is from the Terminus Systems and has no allegiance to anybody, some Mercenary or Freelance individual with a particular skill-set that the Alliance/Citadel needs. Eventually, our character could be drawn to the cause, or do the job for the credits and glory. This way, we could be any race and it would still make sense.

 

The new main character doesn't even have to end up with the Citadel or the Alliance. BioWare not only said that the next game won't feature Shepard, they also said they don't want a "Shepard 2.0", i. e. a game where you play yet another bad-ass Alliance soldier turned human Spectre.

[DaryAlexV]

Krogan please!

 

It'll be dream come true!

[Todd23]

If we can play as an asari, I'll forgive them for ME3s ending... but not forget.

[windsea]

well a post ME3 idea for a multiple race option could have us be part of a unified fleet.

(not taking the ending into this as they are too undefined) 

think about it, after the reaper wars everybody's fleets have weaken so building a single fleet that is open to all citadel races would be logical. Also it could give the genocides that could happen more weight by allow those races as a playable race if they are alive.

 

But as Bioware has said that we will not be another Shepard, it would be unlikely.

[President of Boom]

I love that idea. My hope is that defeating the Reapers has made  various races a bit more tolerant toward one another. I'm of course saying this only because I want to be a stealthy Krogan warrior who's trained with the Asari commandos. Or an orphaned Hanar who grew up in a Krogan household. What would be the default soul name for a character like that, especially if he or she is a renegade? "Not Averse to Watching You Die a Slow Agonizing Death" perhaps? If I can't be that, I'd like to be either an easy-going synthetic with a freaky Shodan-esque voice, a REALLY ugly regular Asari commando, or some sort of  REALLY ugly, freak of nature, mutated, "male" Asari commando. Every time I enter the room I want the NPCs to go "WOW! What the hell!" followed by my Force-choking them.

[windsea]

 

I love that idea. My hope is that defeating the Reapers has made  various races a bit more tolerant toward one another. I'm of course saying this only because I want to be a stealthy Krogan warrior who's trained with the Asari commandos. Or an orphaned Hanar who grew up in a Krogan household. What would be the default soul name for a character like that, especially if he or she is a renegade? "Not Averse to Watching You Die a Slow Agonizing Death" perhaps? If I can't be that, I'd like to be either an easy-going synthetic with a freaky Shodan-esque voice, a REALLY ugly regular Asari commando, or some sort of  REALLY ugly, freak of nature, mutated, "male" Asari commando. Every time I enter the room I want the NPCs to go "WOW! What the hell!" followed by my Force-choking them.

 

I love to see a normal talking Hanar who headbutts everything, so a hanar renegade shepard.

[Beerfish]

I would guess it will be a natural progression to let people play a variety of the other races.

[DextroDNA]

I want to play as part of a band of outlaws or something... Sorta like Guardians of the Galaxy except instead of Groot we have a Krogan. "I am Krogan!"

[Robbiesan]

+1  love the idea. 

 

yes, similar to Dragon Age, the ability to choose race and background would be awesome.  I would love to play as pretty much any of the current species in the ME universe, but in order for me it would be: Turian, Asari, Quarian, Salarian, Drell, Krogan, Hanar, Elcor

[Vespervin]

 

The new main character doesn't even have to end up with the Citadel or the Alliance. BioWare not only said that the next game won't feature Shepard, they also said they don't want a "Shepard 2.0", i. e. a game where you play yet another bad-ass Alliance soldier turned human Spectre.

 

Ah, I did not think of that. Thank you.

 

 

I want to play as part of a band of outlaws or something... Sorta like Guardians of the Galaxy except instead of Groot we have a Krogan. "I am Krogan!"

 

I like the sound of this too.

[MSDChaos]

I have a hard time seeing the gameplay and style in it's current form possible with multiple races. ME is very story and dialogue based, Shepard was made to be more rigid as a PC than most WRPGs at the time, and the story rather linear in it's direction. Like Shepard had to be a soldier in the Alliance, he had to be a Spectre, he had to be a hero, he had to do this and that, even with the customizable origin and history, it still railroads you into being an Alliance soldier on a predetermined course. With multiple races as PC's they would have to change how the story worked.

I don't think they would have the resources to account for the multitude of variables multiple races would require to fit into the type of story structure and design ME had. They could not have nearly as much voiced dialogue or choices as the trilogy, in ME every little choice you made in the whole game was voiced, male and female, that's a lot of voice acting, and say they have like 6 playable races (Human, Turian, Quarian, Asari, Salarian, Krogan) and male and female option for all (Excluding Asari), that would require 11 different voice actors voicing every line of dialogue and choice in the game, they could not have as much dialogue and choices in ME4 as the trilogy if they have those races as the PC, it's just too much. There's just too much to account for in a game like Mass Effect.

BW struggled with the resources for even ME3, the dialogue choices even just for male and female Shepard had to be cut down, among other things.

 

I mean it's a nice pipe-dream to imagine a game like Mass Effect's story telling and design with customization on that level, but I can't see how it is viable.

Changes like this would require the game to become more like Elder Scrolls Skyrim story, very open ended and rather detached and less like Mass Effect.

I like Mass Effect because Shepard is a full fledged character ingrained in the story that you can control, not just a superficial avatar like most WRPG's.

[JoltDealer]

Honestly, I would like to see something a more small scale.  Being part of a mercenary company wouldn't be such a bad idea.  You could start off as a recruit and become the leader in some way.  It gives you an excuse to travel from planet to planet, but it also has you affecting the world to some degree.  You'd still have a ship, squadmates, and combat.

 

It definitely opens up some Paragon/Renegade options in terms of game narrative.  For example, as a mercenary, you and your group would be hired by various people for various missions, with your group being paid upon completion.  Let's say that a mining company hires you to quell a local rebellion that is interfering with the construction of a new mine.  Upon further investigation, you learn that the mining company has been threatening, beating, and even killing locals to obtain the rights to the land, thus justifying the actions of the rebels.  Do you do you help the people or stay loyal to your contract?  Of course, breaking your contract means you won't make as much money.

 

Your decisions would be on a smaller scale, but they would still have a large enough effect.  The Renegade Path leads to you having more resources and money to use, but the Paragon Path leads to more allies and a better overall popular opinion.

 

 

I am still, to this day, horrified that more people chose the geth over the quarians.

 

My logic was, the Quarians were the ones who overreacted in fear of the Geth.  The Geth defended themselves and did not seek out further conflict with them.  Any future conflict was started by the Quarians attacking them or Reaper interference.  The Quarians would rather drive themselves into extinction than consider peace with the Geth.  They essentially dug their own graves.  All I did was give them a shove.

[ImperatorMortis]

Custom character please.

 

We have all these different species. Let me play as a ****ing Asari already. 

 

 

I am still, to this day, horrified that more people chose the geth over the quarians.

 

 

Ditto. It's easier to stop thinking about it, and just assume these people are nuts. 

 

Oh, and be thankful none of them will make a important decision like that ever. 

[NM_Che56]

 

My idea is this, take the customisation of the main character to the next level. Let us choose which race we belong to. Be it Human, Quarian, Kroga, Salarian, etc, let us pick to be either a male or female from that race. 

 

"You're crazy, Vespervin" is what your probably thinking. "Why would a Krogan work for the Alliance and/or the Citadel?" Think of this. Make the back story for the character somewhat generic. Make it so our character is from the Terminus Systems and has no allegiance to anybody, some Mercenary or Freelance individual with a particular skill-set that the Alliance/Citadel needs. Eventually, our character could be drawn to the cause, or do the job for the credits and glory. This way, we could be any race and it would still make sense.

 

 

Your idea and mine are compatible.  I was thinking of allowing the player to pick which race they belong to.  Given where they're going with DA:I, I would think it's a safe bet that the level of customization will make it in the next ME game.

 

As far as the terminus systems go, I was thinking that the protagonist could be some hired hand.  A contractor.  You work for a company that provides transport and security to companies that send their scientists, engineers, etc. out to far reaches of the galaxy to mine, conduct research, explore for resources, yada yada yada.  All in the name of "technological advancement".  Maybe the goal is to take space travel to other galaxies.  Since the company who hired you isn't too big on following strict codes of ethics and thrives in ethically gray areas, they are headquartered in the Terminus Systems; outside of the Citadel Council or Alliance jurisdiction.

 

Your background as the ships captain can vary.  Yes, a captain! That way, it allows us to have a "Normandy" of our own.  Maybe we can outfit it with cool upgrades...I digress.  Much like you alluded to, your character is escaping something.  My thought was that you are:

 

1) Human - disgraced Alliance soldier; court marshalled. Your actions were necessary at the time, but violated military code.  It was either you and your squad dies or you commit this war crime.

2) Turian - disgraced C-Sec officer.  Your partner died under suspicious circumstances.

3) Krogan - disgraced clan member; exile or death for something you're accused of doing

4) Quarian - took the pilgrimage and never looked back.

5) Asari - Former Asari Commando; you're blamed for the death of the Matriarch you were protecting...falsely?

6) Batarian - You pissed off some slavers that you worked for.

 

The story evolves as you learn more about the people you're working for.  A few members of the team, who become your companions, have some misgivings about what's going on with the research and implore you for assistance in looking into it and getting off of the planet to inform either the council or the alliance.  While the council or alliance lack jurisdiction, the real plans of the company are a threat.  Maybe not a threat in the sense that the galaxy will be destroyed, that hand has been played.  It turns out, the company is just Cerberus in new clothes and they intend to overthrow the Citadel Council and install a new order that is, of course, human centric.

 

Given that your companions are from various races, this revelation can create some nice relationship dynamics.  If you're human, the non-humans will question your motives and wonder if you are too pro-human.  If you're non-human, this can create some tension between you and any humans in your group.

 

Just something to keep my mind busy while I wait for the next game...

[Arkus Eon]

I'd actually like ME4 to not include humans as a playable race - if anything to avoid "Commander Shepard 2.0". I want to play as a Turian personally, and I'd like to see just the alien races - preferably as a prequel before the First Contact War.