49 réponses à ce sujet

[SimplyTev]

BioWare stated several times over that the new game will be revolved around exploring and immersion. I was just reminiscing on how much fun and feels I had going through the first Mass Effect trilogy on my first play through and remembered the ending to Mass Effect 2. It showed the Reapers approaching the Milky Way galaxy from very deep space. So deep that you could see the majority of the galaxy on their approach. 

 

My speculation is that the new Mass Effect will be after Shepard's story. The Alliance may have reverse engineered Reaper technology and, from it, discovered advanced galactic travel. If I remember correctly, the ending to ME2 showed the Reapers on approach to the galaxy from many light years away. The time frame between ME2 and ME3 isn't all that long. I think less than a year or so. (correct me if I'm wrong!) I am no Michio Kaku, but I know that distances like that takes forever and a day to travel, even at light speed travel. Yes, I know that there are FTL drives on the ships, but they were never advanced enough to travel outside of the galaxy. 

 

Fast forward after Shepard's story line and the Milky Way galaxy is now exploring the nearby Andromeda galaxy because of Reaper powered technology. That's where BioWare will be able to implement all kinds of new discoveries. I mean, sure, we can still make discoveries in our own Milky Way galaxy but we've already been through majority of it through three games. The Andromeda galaxy exploration would bring new planets, characters, technologies, and more to the table. I don't think it would be a bad idea either. 

 

Your thoughts?

[GalacticWolf5]

I mean, sure, we can still make discoveries in our own Milky Way galaxy but we've already been through majority of it through three games.

You're kiding, right? Less than 1% of the Milky Way has been explored. There's plenty more to discover out there. Planets, Species, artifacts, etc.

And exploring another galaxy while we've explored less than 1% of our own would be kinda stupid.

[Ithurael]

I like the idea of exploring or interacting with Alien things. And by Alien I don't mean Asari, Salarian, Krogan, etc (though the volus were great)

 

I like interacting/getting to know/fighting unknowable creatures. You know? That is what I loved the reapers and the Geth (pre ME3). They were such great creatures that really got me thinking about what it was like to be them or how it could even be possible. Could they (the reapers) warp time/space? IDK...maybe...Could they even transcend our realm of existence? It certainly seemed so but then again...I don't know...

 

Another galaxy could definitely bring that. but then again...so could the milky way. IDK...The one thing I hate is when a sequel come out and suddenly there is another Big Bad (who is worse) that just shows up after the last big bad happened because it was just...waiting...idk.

 

At least Starcraft gave a reason why the main antagonist in SC2 didn't just wipe everyone out in SC1.

[KaiserShep]

I would prefer that the galaxy remains largely unexplored. Gameplay doesn't really reflect this a great deal, but the galaxy is so ridiculously huge that it would take quite a long time to ever explore it in its entirety. There's just so many worlds left uncharted, and the relays aren't everywhere, at least as far as anyone knows.

[Arcian]

I mean, sure, we can still make discoveries in our own Milky Way galaxy but we've already been through majority of it through three games. The Andromeda galaxy exploration would bring new planets, characters, technologies, and more to the table. I don't think it would be a bad idea either. 

 

Your thoughts?

Thanks OP, I've been looking for an excuse to repost this.

 

HA HA! TIME FOR ASTRONOMY!

Do you know how many stars there are in the Milky Way?

200-400 billion. Let's say 300 billion for the sake of simplicity.

300 billion stars means 300 billion potential star systems.

Let's say that exploring a star system and going to the next only takes 1 second in total.

Do you know how long it would take to explore every star in the Milky Way at that speed?

9,506 years.

Do you know how long it would take to explore every star in the Milky Way at the average FTL speed (4380xLight Speed) in Mass Effect?

273,790,926 years.

The Milky Way is mindbogglingly huge.  If each star was the size of a tennis ball, how far apart would they be?

2370 km. That's the distance between Baltimore and Dallas.

[Valmar]

I agree with what the others are saying - theres plenty of potential left in the Milky Way. We don't need to go to any other galaxy. Also consider this: the relay network is NOT completely explored. There are potentially a countless number of relays built and linked together that we never discovered. The Council banned reactivating dormant relays after the Rachni incident. We live in our own little bubble. The reapers have been around for a billion+ years, thats a LOT of time to go around placing relays. Who knows how much is out there waiting to be explored in our own backyard. What we view as a complete galaxy map is just a small fraction of a much bigger map, we just haven't discovered it.

[SimplyTev]

Damn. You guys just beat my speculation to death. I just thought it would be cool to be able to go to the Andromeda and Milky Way. 

[Arcian]

Damn. You guys just beat my speculation to death. I just thought it would be cool to be able to go to the Andromeda and Milky Way.

One galaxy at a time, bub.

[Han Shot First]

Galaxies are so massive that if the next game were set in Andromeda, it would likely be entirely set there. There is some speculation Bioware might go that route anyway to avoid having to figure out how to work the results of ME3's three endings into a single sequel.

[Arcian]

Galaxies are so massive that if the next game were set in Andromeda, it would likely be entirely set there. There is some speculation Bioware might go that route anyway to avoid having to figure out how to work the results of ME3's three endings into a single sequel.

Given how BioWare pretty much completely ignored ME1 and ME2's endings, I don't see why people expect them to actually give a crap about ME3's endings.

[Kabooooom]

Given how BioWare pretty much completely ignored ME1 and ME2's endings, I don't see why people expect them to actually give a crap about ME3's endings.

Solely because ME3s endings (unlike 1 and 2s) fundamentally alter the landscape of the galaxy forever going forward. Anyone that thinks otherwise is deluding themselves, I think.

But in one sense, I don't think they WILL give a crap about them. I think they will totally and utterly ignore them by placing the new setting firmly divorced from the rest of the Milky Way. Be it in a new galaxy (less plausible from a lore standpoint) or merely new regions of the relay network (much more plausible), they will ignore the outcome of the Reaper war. It will probably be something similar to a stranger in a strange land concept.

It is so predictable and safe, and so elegantly avoids the cluster of a corner that they wrote themselves into that I would be very surprised if they don't jump at the opportunity to exploit the sheer massiveness of space and leave the trilogy behind entirely. From a writing and creativity standpoint, it is just waaaaay too tempting. Blank slate. Time to do it right this time.

[Han Shot First]

As much as I'd like to see a direct sequel to Mass Effect 3, I don't think the thing is possible without anointing one of the three endings the sole canon. Or at the sole imported ending that the sequels will follow. The three diverge from each other too much, particularly Synthesis which fundamentally changes the nature of all life in the Milky Way for all time. And with Destroy the Reapers are gone, whereas they aren't in Control & Synthesis.

 

Because of that it does make me wonder whether Bioware will just avoid having to figure out how to deal with ME3's diverging endings, by just setting the next game in another galaxy. If you are one of the devs, that would have to seem like an easy out. And it's a lot less likely to be controversial, since if you go the sole import route there is going to be some angry people among the fans of the two endings that don't get carried over.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

It's pretty easy to deal with ME3's ending. Sweep it under the rug and pretend it never happened. Write a canon ending that makes sense for the codex. Why? Because the best way to solve the problem is to satisfy no one. The reapers are dead because the quarians blew them up with a modified version of Xen's anti-geth weapon. Xen used the dead reaper and made it an anti-reaper weapon. The End.

 

Oh, you let the quarians die? Too bad.

[ImaginaryMatter]

As much as I'd like to see a direct sequel to Mass Effect 3, I don't think the thing is possible without anointing one of the three endings the sole canon. Or at the sole imported ending that the sequels will follow. The three diverge from each other too much, particularly Synthesis which fundamentally changes the nature of all life in the Milky Way for all time. And with Destroy the Reapers are gone, whereas they aren't in Control & Synthesis.

 

Because of that it does make me wonder whether Bioware will just avoid having to figure out how to deal with ME3's diverging endings, by just setting the next game in another galaxy. If you are one of the devs, that would have to seem like an easy out. And it's a lot less likely to be controversial, since if you go the sole import route there is going to be some angry people among the fans of the two endings that don't get carried over.

 

I think it's possible they might converge all the endings and just have three separate Codex entries (although I hope not). You could have the Reapers/Geth leave for reasons unknown so they're never there (or just rebuild the Geth). The Krogan and Quarians you encounter could be the last of a dying race or be renewed with the occasional one line blurb to reflect on that. The external effects of Synthesis could fade over time and give a +whatever bonus for that import to reflect the new matrix of life, or the galaxy starts to achieve similar effects on their own.

[Linkenski]

If the game really does take place after ME3, there is no acceptable solution to handling the 3 endings. A retcon which I would like would ****** off a lot of fans and actually incorporating it will ****** off just about anyone who hated the endins which is a LOT of people.

 

...and no number like Leliana and the Temple of Sacred Ashes revive crap copout. They reboot the franchise or they'll screw it up.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Here's how they do it:

 

Rannoch - You chose the Geth? Unknown to Tali, most of the Quarian fleet FTLs out of the system. The Geth cannot follow where they went because they don't know. The quarians have to plot several jumps to reach a relay which they find damaged. It is in one of their old systems, and they detect no Geth activity. They re-colonize the planet. As long as it is not Haestrom, they're good.

 

Sided with the quarians? Well, the many of the geth did the same thing once the quarians started blasting them to bits. In any case, the Quarian or Geth homeworlds are not hubs.

 

Genophage - This is a sticky one. If you cured it on Tuchanka, that planet is overpopulated and suffers a collapse and nuclear war. However the genophage is not cured on Garvung, another Krogan world. So the Krogan still survive. If you did not cure the genophage, the Krogan population on Tuchanka is reduced to 1 billion. The leaders demand help.

 

The Rachni - If you spared the rachni, and did not cure the genophage, they move onto Tuchanka, but are not aggressively taking over the galaxy.

 

Red, Green or Blue get reconned to be this: the reapers were destroyed, the mass relays were damaged, we're rebuilding. Synthetics were not affected.

 

Shepard's survival is irrelevant. There is a statue of Shepard in the Presidium (male if you played a male Shepard, female if you played a female Shepard).

 

Since there is the Next Gen console situation to deal with all campaign decisions are made at Jump Zero, which works the same as The Keep. EDI is our story teller.

[Alamar2078]

Honestly if I was BW I'd just pick an ending and go with that as canon for any "sequels" to ME4.  Given that there's not supposed to be any real carryover between past & future stories I don't have any problem at all with picking whatever continuity makes for the best game / series.  Honestly what would be the problem as long as BW was honest about what they were doing??

 

Given the endings involved I suspect a mid or high level Destroy ending would be the [only] way to go.  Synthesis would feel odd for any new players ; I suspect Control wouldn't provide the right amount of tension because Shep could always come to the rescue with his Reaper army ; Refuse likely isn't even an option because there wouldn't be any of the existing races left so there wouldn't be any connection at all to what went earlier.

[Pasquale1234]

A Milky Way, outside of Citadel space (and too far away from a networked relay to be impacted by the magical crucible energy) setting would avoid the need to address anything from the original trilogy. Unless they plan to use all new species, though, they would need to somehow explain how existing species got there from their various homeworlds. Relay malfunction, or previously unknown relay discovered?

I'd like to play a game that picks up where ME3 left off - dealing with the Fallout after the reaper attack. Yep, I mentioned Fallout.  Not gonna happen, though, since ME is heavily focused on space travel, and they'd have to canonize an ending to pull it off.

[dlux]

They are focussing on "exploration" with the Mako, which probably means driving around for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours collecting worthless stuff, unlocking achievements and killing respawns. If you think that sounds like "Dragon Age: Inquisition in space", then you're right. I guess they will call it "Mass Effect: Hinterlands".

 

I can hardly wait for Bioware's EA's next masterpiece.

[wolfhowwl]

Wandering around a barren wasteland gathering resources and collectibles, sounds like Mass Effect 1!

[Serillen]

I'm wondering if they dont side step the issue in ME4 by having follow the story of colonists who attempted to escape the reapers by using normal FTL to travel beyond the mass relay network. Normally that doesn't work due to there always being indoctrinated crew among the escapees, but since the reapers were defeated that issue is no longer relevant. That would pretty much put the idea of exploration at the forefront, maybe to find a world to settle, or maybe to explore the area around the colony for resources they need to survive.

[Han Shot First]

I think it's possible they might converge all the endings and just have three separate Codex entries (although I hope not). You could have the Reapers/Geth leave for reasons unknown so they're never there (or just rebuild the Geth). The Krogan and Quarians you encounter could be the last of a dying race or be renewed with the occasional one line blurb to reflect on that. The external effects of Synthesis could fade over time and give a +whatever bonus for that import to reflect the new matrix of life, or the galaxy starts to achieve similar effects on their own.

 

True. I suppose they could go that route as well. That route probably scares me more than the others though, because it opens up the possibility of Bioware deciding that Synthesis happens anyway no matter what you choose. With Destroy & Control they could just have the galaxy decide to become partially synthetic on its own and fulfill glow boy's prediction that it was inevitable. The blatant favoritism for Synthesis by the devs, or at least the lead writers of ME3 (even after the EC, the game tries to hit the player over the head with it being the 'best choice') has me nervous.

 

Preorder cancelled. 

 

A Milky Way, outside of Citadel space (and too far away from a networked relay to be impacted by the magical crucible energy) setting would avoid the need to address anything from the original trilogy. Unless they plan to use all new species, though, they would need to somehow explain how existing species got there from their various homeworlds. Relay malfunction, or previously unknown relay discovered?

I'd like to play a game that picks up where ME3 left off - dealing with the Fallout after the reaper attack. Yep, I mentioned Fallout.  Not gonna happen, though, since ME is heavily focused on space travel, and they'd have to canonize an ending to pull it off.

 

 

I think the problem with a Milky Way setting is that they almost have to address ME3's endings then. The effects of whatever you chose in ME3 were spread galaxy-wide by the Crucible and the relay network. So you couldn't for example, have a Synthesis import where Synthesis is not affecting whatever sector of the galaxy the game is set in. Likewise the Reapers in the Milky Way should be entirely affected by your choice. Dead in Destroy, hanging around in Control or Synthesis.

 

*If* the devs want to avoid having to work from ME3's endings they have to either set the game outside the Milky Way, or even in a different universe.

[rapscallioness]

Hmm, you know, OP, I think the same sense of discovery could be accomplished in the Milky Way. Esp seeing as how we haven't really seen the vast majority of it.

 

I'm not opposed to going to the Andromeda galaxy. Heck, new is new. I just don;t see the need for it..yet.

 

I do like the idea of reverse engineering the Reaper tech. Although, anyone could do it. Not just the Alliance. It could be Asari, Salarians. In the destroy ending, I always wondered just what they were gonna do with all those Reaper husks that fell from the sky. And knowing how people are, they're gonna take it and try and do something with it. Something to give themselves an advantage.

 

But what about Control or Synthesis?

[rapscallioness]

If they make a game going fwd in time, and set in the Milky Way, they are going to have to be pretty clever in how they pull it off.

 

I would like to surprised with their cleverness.......but....

[rapscallioness]

And if they did go with the Destroy ending--although I don;t know how I'd feel abt that. I mean, I'm a Destroyer, but Idk about making one choice canon.

 

Control is easy enough to account for, but with Synthesis the only thing I could see is that it went haywire. Natural Selection does have way of creating work arounds to anything it does not like. Evolution be like, "Hmm. No. Veto! Veto, I said."

 

It's wily like that. The system of organics just may try and purge that stuff. Seeing it as a foreign entity, and try and throw it all out the airlock.