2122 réponses à ce sujet

[Silvair]

Just my thing is....why would anything from the Milky Way be all the way in Andromeda? I can understand a couple random Lost In Space style explorers like Gillian and the quarians, or a single human, but its an ENTIRE GALAXY AWAY.  We haven't even seen a fraction of the milky way, we know most of it isn't colonized.

 

So why Andromeda?  You're stretching suspension of disbelief pretty far to say a human is out there, or that any Milky Way tech or other species made their way out there.  

 

This has to be a galaxy so far removed that the reapers weren't bothering it.  Which means so far removed from the Milky Way that we shouldn't be seeing anything that makes us think "Mass effect".

[Malanek]

The whole 'Ark' theory is stretching things a little too much. If you're going to colonise another planet you'd need to know it had a hospitable climate, funa and flora, the latter two needing to be compatible with the human digestive system, not to mention liquid water easily accessible. Now you can do this in the Milky Way because you are awake but how do you do it with a sleeper ship. Presumably you're asleep. Not even Shepard was that good. I think we're best waiting to see what E3 brings before we start marching to Montreal with our pitch forks out.

The ship (or at least part of it) would have to wake up when you got there and start searching through thousands of possible planets (narrowed down from millions in inhospitable zones) for a suitable one to colonise. However given you have computers that can help narrow this down and ships that can travel over 10 LYs a day, and have actually crossed the distance between galaxies, I don't think this part is too much of a stretch.

[Torgette]

The whole 'Ark' theory is stretching things a little too much. If you're going to colonise another planet you'd need to know it had a hospitable climate, funa and flora, the latter two needing to be compatible with the human digestive system, not to mention liquid water easily accessible. Now you can do this in the Milky Way because you are awake but how do you do it with a sleeper ship. Presumably you're asleep. Not even Shepard was that good. I think we're best waiting to see what E3 brings before we start marching to Montreal with our pitch forks out.

 

Have Hal 9000 wake everybody up when you find something hospitable.

[The Arbiter]

I can definitely see both sides of this argument. Off the top of my head

 

Things you are keeping that are unique and help define mass effect

-Some of the species

-The history

-Biotics

-Element zero and presumably basic theory of starship ftl travel (although it could be radically changed)

-The weapons

-The Mako

-The basic game system

 

Things you are losing

-All the planets, star systems, cities, places

-Some of the species

-The politics (some of this can stay in some sort of form but it would be unrealistic to not be significantly changed)

-The corporations, organisations, manufacturers (some of these can come through possibly ie N7 but I feel these wont be the same or feel compelling, we'll see how they do it)

-Iconic ships and technology

 

I still think the game will still easily be recognisable as Mass Effect. I would personally love to see a story written around the rebuild of a post destroy ending, I think that would be fascinating. However I'm OK with dropping all the stuff I mentioned above and moving to Andromeda. Not my preference but I am OK with it. I just hope they do so in a logical and robustly told way.

Well some Bioware employees already told fans and gamers not to call the Next game as "Mass Effect" that could be an indication of a total restart of the franchise then re-naming it to re-condition the minds of people that it has no relation to Shepard and 3 at all to the point of deleting every single aspect we knew of the past trilogy.

[Silvair]

Well some Bioware employees already told fans and gamers not to call the Next game as "Mass Effect" that could be an indication of a total restart of the franchise then re-naming it to re-condition the minds of people that it has no relation to Shepard and 3 at all to the point of deleting every single aspect we knew of the past trilogy.

Okay, so it's NOT mass effect at all, its a new series then.  That clears it up a bit.

[The Arbiter]

Okay, so it's NOT mass effect at all, its a new series then.  That clears it up a bit.

What's more confusing is that from an interview I've read the devs wanted the next game not to be called as a "cheap knock off" or an "alternate universe" at all and wanted it to be "recognizable" as "mass effect" trough the use of the same mechanics i.e. Mako, Galaxy map, Romance, combat, space travel, species, etc which is a contradiction of the previous notion...my brain was full of fak when I read that... because like I've said other Bioware devs did not want it to be called as Mass Effect, if my assumptions are correct there is also a division inside Bioware itself.

[rapscallioness]

No, they did not want it to be called Mass Effect 4. It was the "4" they objected to because they were concerned the "4" would lead people to believe the next game was some kind of  direct sequel to ME3.

[Malanek]

Well some Bioware employees already told fans and gamers not to call the Next game as "Mass Effect" that could be an indication of a total restart of the franchise then re-naming it to re-condition the minds of people that it has no relation to Shepard and 3 at all to the point of deleting every single aspect we knew of the past trilogy.

Didn't they say to not call it Mass Effect 4?

 

There is a big difference. They said multiple times it will still be a Mass Effect game.

[AresKeith]

Are we now back to "What is Mass Effect?" again?

[Torgette]

Are we now back to "What is Mass Effect?" again?

Mass Effect is what happens when all your clothes no longer fit because you're fat.

[Iakus]

 

Incidentally the whole ark theory founders on the sheer logistics of such an enterprise, especially if you want self sustaining colonies with no reinforcements from the milky way.

Bah, just build an Infinite Improbability Drive and slap it on the S S Minnow.

 

The story practically writes itself 

[camphor]

Read what I said; "Most people on this forum". A simple, quantifiable truth by reading the overwhelming negativity towards the idea of a reboot. To be 'fair', you're the only person on this forum telling us our dislike of the idea is wrong and that we should all conform to your way of thinking. Such hubris. Next time you feel the urge to make imbecilic comments I recommend you actually look around at the person's previous posts.

if its quantifiable you should quantify it because to me it seems to be a 50/50 split its easy (and natural) to remember posts you agree with more heavily confirmation bias isnt something you can be above. i mean feel free to hate the idea no one can change  the way you feel but you. But i think alot of posters would be better off excepting it, and thinking of ways to make it work in their head and enjoy the game, of course you can let your rage build up and swallow any enjoyment you would get otherwise.

[ElitePinecone]

Just my thing is....why would anything from the Milky Way be all the way in Andromeda? I can understand a couple random Lost In Space style explorers like Gillian and the quarians, or a single human, but its an ENTIRE GALAXY AWAY.  We haven't even seen a fraction of the milky way, we know most of it isn't colonized.

 

The prevailing theory at the moment is that some citizens of the Milky Way built an ark ship and went to Andromeda deliberately during the events of ME3, in order to escape the Reapers. Since we have no evidence that the Reapers operate outside our galaxy, getting out of it entirely would be one way to guarantee that some people survived regardless of whether or not Shepard was victorious.

 

It would be a colonisation effort, not an accident.

[Han Shot First]

Just my thing is....why would anything from the Milky Way be all the way in Andromeda? I can understand a couple random Lost In Space style explorers like Gillian and the quarians, or a single human, but its an ENTIRE GALAXY AWAY.  We haven't even seen a fraction of the milky way, we know most of it isn't colonized.

 

 

We don't know enough about the plot of the game yet, or even if the leak details are legitimate, to say for sure.

 

But some of the fan speculation is that an ark might have been intentionally sent to Andromeda during the Reaper War, as part of a Plan B in case the Reapers win. Basically in that scenario it is the equivalent of the Prothean project where they put people in cryosleep on Eden Prime, in that hope that they could outlast the Reapers and recolonize the Milky Way when they departed. The only difference here is that the Council's colonization project is giving up on the Milky Way and setting out for Andromeda, which given what was known about the Reapers, is arguably the better plan.

 

 

So why Andromeda?  You're stretching suspension of disbelief pretty far to say a human is out there, or that any Milky Way tech or other species made their way out there.  

 

 

Actually Andromeda could be easily reached by the Reapers, who at their maximum speed of 30 light years per day could reach it from the Milky Way in about 230 years. The Council species, whose ships top out at 12 light years per day, would spend over 500 in transit. Time is not so much of a barrier however given that cryosleep is a thing within the Mass Effect series. The real obstacles for the Council species would be the need to refuel and drive discharge, unlike the Reapers, who have reached a level of technological sophistication where neither is required.

 

If Bioware is going to send a ship to Andromeda a couple of ways to do it are to have the Council species reverse engineer Reaper technology that allows a ship to travel without refueling or drive discharge, or to have the ship arrive in Andromeda via a wormhole. One interesting fan theory is that a side effect of the Crucible would open up a wormhole, with some of the ships participating in the battle for Earth being accidentally transported and stranded in Andromeda.

 

Another possibility I just thought of while typing the above... is that maybe the Crucible borked the relay network when it fired, and ships fleeing through the Charon relay after Priority: Earth were being dumped in random locations on the relay network. That might explain why the Normandy ended up alone on what appeared to be an uncharted garden world, instead of some predetermined rallying point for the fleet. If the Reapers had also been visiting Andromeda and annihilating civilizations there, it is possible that it would have its own relay network and perhaps even a connection to the Milky Way network. You could then have some ships from the Sword fleet dumped unintentionally in Andromeda, and unable to return when the relay network crashes shortly afterward. (its implied that the network needs to be repaired in the epilogues)

 

 

 

 

 

This has to be a galaxy so far removed that the reapers weren't bothering it.  Which means so far removed from the Milky Way that we shouldn't be seeing anything that makes us think "Mass effect".

 

Once the Reapers being stranded in dark space was retconned, they had the potential to reach Andromeda as well as the Milky Way. Their speed and the fact that they don't need drive discharge or refueling, and are effectively immortal, makes Andromeda fully within their reach. Of course an ability to reach Andromeda doesn't necessarily translate into a desire, so its impossible to say at this point whether they were active in Andromeda as well. That is entirely up to the writers and they have the option of going either way with it, without trampling on lore.

 

If the Reapers had been visiting Andromeda and destroying civilizations there as well, it is likely it would have its own relay network. They would have most likely rolled with a similar game plan as the one they used in the Milky Way. If the Reapers built a relay network there it is also probable that it would have its own version of a Citadel, attended by an Andromedan version of the Keepers.

 

Even if the Reapers didn't visit Andromeda it is possible that there could be something similar to the Milky Way relay network, constructed by something native to Andromeda. The Reapers, which have been around for a couple billion years at least, top out at 30 light years per day. Anything native to Andromeda that had been around as long or less, might not have been able to exceed that speed. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light years across. Recent estimates of Andromeda put it about 220,000 light years in diameter. Traversing either without the use of relays would be possible for the Reapers, but it might not be convenient for organic species. Any species that reached the technological sophistication of the Leviathans or the Reapers might have sought to construct something similar to the Milky Way's relay network, to greatly reduce transit times between explored/colonized systems.

 

/speculation

[Silvair]

The prevailing theory at the moment is that some citizens of the Milky Way built an ark ship and went to Andromeda deliberately during the events of ME3, in order to escape the Reapers. Since we have no evidence that the Reapers operate outside our galaxy, getting out of it entirely would be one way to guarantee that some people survived regardless of whether or not Shepard was victorious.

 

It would be a colonisation effort, not an accident.

Ah.  makes sense.  

 

We don't know enough about the plot of the game yet, or even if the leak details are legitimate, to say for sure.

 

But some of the fan speculation is that an ark might have been intentionally sent to Andromeda during the Reaper War, as part of a Plan B in case the Reapers win. Basically in that scenario it is the equivalent of the Prothean project where they put people in cryosleep on Eden Prime, in that hope that they could outlast the Reapers and recolonize the Milky Way when they departed. The only difference here is that the Council's colonization project is giving up on the Milky Way and setting out for Andromeda, which given what was known about the Reapers, is arguably the better plan.

 

 

Actually Andromeda could be easily reached by the Reapers, who at their maximum speed of 30 light years per day could reach it from the Milky Way in about 230 years. The Council species, whose ships top out at 12 light years per day, would spend over 500 in transit. Time is not so much of a barrier however given that cryosleep is a thing within the Mass Effect series. The real obstacles for the Council species would be the need to refuel and drive discharge, unlike the Reapers, who have reached a level of technological sophistication where neither is required.

 

If Bioware is going to send a ship to Andromeda a couple of ways to do it are to have the Council species reverse engineer Reaper technology that allows a ship to travel without refueling or drive discharge, or to have the ship arrive in Andromeda via a wormhole. One interesting fan theory is that a side effect of the Crucible would open up a wormhole, with some of the ships participating in the battle for Earth being accidentally transported and stranded in Andromeda.

 

Another possibility I just thought of while typing the above... is that maybe the Crucible borked the relay network when it fired, and ships fleeing through the Charon relay after Priority: Earth were being dumped in random locations on the relay network. That might explain why the Normandy ended up alone on what appeared to be an uncharted garden world, instead of some predetermined rallying point for the fleet. If the Reapers had also been visiting Andromeda and annihilating civilizations there, it is possible that it would have its own relay network and perhaps even a connection to the Milky Way network. You could then have some ships from the Sword fleet dumped unintentionally in Andromeda, and unable to return when the relay network crashes shortly afterward. (its implied that the network needs to be repaired in the epilogues)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the Reapers being stranded in dark space was retconned, they had the potential to reach Andromeda as well as the Milky Way. Their speed and the fact that they don't need drive discharge or refueling, and are effectively immortal, makes Andromeda fully within their reach. Of course an ability to reach Andromeda doesn't necessarily translate into a desire, so its impossible to say at this point whether they were active in Andromeda as well. That is entirely up to the writers and they have the option of going either way with it, without trampling on lore.

 

If the Reapers had been visiting Andromeda and destroying civilizations there as well, it is likely it would have its own relay network. They would have most likely rolled with a similar game plan as the one they used in the Milky Way. If the Reapers built a relay network there it is also probable that it would have its own version of a Citadel, attended by an Andromedan version of the Keepers.

 

Even if the Reapers didn't visit Andromeda it is possible that there could be something similar to the Milky Way relay network, constructed by something native to Andromeda. The Reapers, which have been around for a couple billion years at least, top out at 30 light years per day. Anything native to Andromeda that had been around as long or less, might not have been able to exceed that speed. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light years across. Recent estimates of Andromeda put it about 220,000 light years in diameter. Traversing either without the use of relays would be possible for the Reapers, but it might not be convenient for organic species. Any species that reached the technological sophistication of the Leviathans or the Reapers might have sought to construct something similar to the Milky Way's relay network, to greatly reduce transit times between explored/colonized systems.

 

/speculation

So I was onto something when I guessed earlier that the Normandy might have been slingshotted to Andromeda  during the relaysplosion.  Nice.

 

But on the possibility of the reapers harvesting other galaxies as well, that WOULD explain why there's so dang many of them if they only harvest ONE species per cycle. (I know its been going on for millennia, but still), but it also raises the question of just how many galaxies they do this to.

 

 

Of the real hitch in that theory is that the Catalyst is the leader/originator of the reapers...which is based in the Citadel in the milky way (or whatever).  Which makes it dang near impossible for the reapers to branch out that far.  Maybe the catalyst is just short sighted and had no interest in other galaxies?

 

 

Either way, this goes back to my point that without Mass Effect tech, the name is meaningless.  At least Resident Evil had the excuse of that just being a localized rename, after they stopped having evil in just a single Resident (Biohazard is a much more apt name for bioterrorism anyway.  Helps dispel the argument of "they aren't zombies!" of 456)

[ZoliCs]

I understand that for you as long as it has some shooty bang bang in a third person along with a gloss of player choice it will be mass effect, but posting a gif doesn't really strengthen your argument that that is the case for everyone.

No species homeworlds or colonies
No places
No galactic governments or politics
No history relating to the species
No mass relays (without opening a whole can of worms )
No citadel

I can go on. Apart from a few token species how will it be relatable to the previous trilogy? If you renamed the krogan to the Bogan, would it make any difference?

Incidentally the whole ark theory founders on the sheer logistics of such an enterprise, especially if you want self sustaining colonies with no reinforcements from the milky way.

 

And who authorized you to tell me what counts as a new IP and what counts as Mass Effect?

 

 

Hint: Nobody.

[Torgette]

Bah, just build an Infinite Improbability Drive and slap it on the S S Minnow.

 

The story practically writes itself 

 

Maybe it's powered by the human spirit. 

[themikefest]

Bah, just build an Infinite Improbability Drive and slap it on the S S Minnow.

 

The story practically writes itself 

They meant to take a 3 hour tour and ended up in another galaxy.

[themikefest]

 

Another possibility I just thought of while typing the above... is that maybe the Crucible borked the relay network when it fired, and ships fleeing through the Charon relay after Priority: Earth were being dumped in random locations on the relay network. That might explain why the Normandy ended up alone on what appeared to be an uncharted garden world, instead of some predetermined rallying point for the fleet. If the Reapers had also been visiting Andromeda and annihilating civilizations there, it is possible that it would have its own relay network and perhaps even a connection to the Milky Way network. You could then have some ships from the Sword fleet dumped unintentionally in Andromeda, and unable to return when the relay network crashes shortly afterward. (its implied that the network needs to be repaired in the epilogues)

If that happened, how did the crew of the Normandy know Anderson is dead to have his nameplate on the wall. I also find it hard to believe the ship ended up on the planet in the state it does if ems is below 2600. Its shown that the thrusters on the right side are ripped/torn from the ship. The ship should be in pieces on the whatever planet

[saladinbob]

The ship (or at least part of it) would have to wake up when you got there and start searching through thousands of possible planets (narrowed down from millions in inhospitable zones) for a suitable one to colonise. However given you have computers that can help narrow this down and ships that can travel over 10 LYs a day, and have actually crossed the distance between galaxies, I don't think this part is too much of a stretch.

 

The Milky Way has an estimated 100 billion stars in it. Andromeda is similarly sized. If only 1% of those stars had planets around them that's still 1 billion stars to investigate for habitability. That's going to take some time to find a hospitable planet. Remember, there's no support, no survey ships, no observatories to do the donkey work for you. You're on your own with all you left behind a Galaxy away. Finally, Citadel ships are supposed to have a top speed of 15 LY per 24 hours which means the travel time from Earth would be almost 500 years. When they finally do find a habitable planet suitable for colonisation, they would be for all intents and purposes, a pre-space flight society. They may have the science but not the resources which would take further generations to establish, assuming the settled solar system had access to ezo. As has been pointed out in this thread, such a time frame would see cultural divergence from the parent culture in the Milky Way. 

 

The entire premise is not only riddled with holes but it's also akin to cheap pulp fiction rather than the solid writing Bioware used to be known for. Less Star Wars, more Space Balls. If this truly is what they've come up with for the next instalment, Bioware will have hammered the final nail in their own coffin, proving that the Bioware of the last 17 years is now dead and they're nothing more than just another generic developer releasing generic games for another of the big publishers. RIP Bioware if this is what you've come up with.

[Torgette]

The Milky Way has an estimated 100 billion stars in it. Andromeda is similarly sized. If only 1% of those stars had planets around them that's still 1 billion stars to investigate for habitability. That's going to take some time to find a hospitable planet. Remember, there's no support, no survey ships, no observatories to do the donkey work for you. You're on your own with all you left behind a Galaxy away. Finally, Citadel ships are supposed to have a top speed of 15 LY per 24 hours which means the travel time from Earth would be almost 500 years. When they finally do find a habitable planet suitable for colonisation, they would be for all intents and purposes, a pre-space flight society. They may have the science but not the resources which would take further generations to establish, assuming the settled solar system had access to ezo. As has been pointed out in this thread, such a time frame would see cultural divergence from the parent culture in the Milky Way. 

 

The entire premise is not only riddled with holes but it's also akin to cheap pulp fiction rather than the solid writing Bioware used to be known for. Less Star Wars, more Space Balls.

 

Maybe they get to Andromeda using Ludicrous Speed.

[saladinbob]

Maybe they get to Andromeda using Ludicrous Speed.

 

More like a ludicrous story line.

[Ahriman]

The Milky Way has an estimated 100 billion stars in it. Andromeda is similarly sized. If only 1% of those stars had planets around them that's still 1 billion stars to investigate for habitability. That's going to take some time to find a hospitable planet. Remember, there's no support, no survey ships, no observatories to do the donkey work for you. You're on your own with all you left behind a Galaxy away. Finally, Citadel ships are supposed to have a top speed of 15 LY per 24 hours which means the travel time from Earth would be almost 500 years.

Reaper FTL is 30 LY/prh, and since Citadel ships are incapable of long travel due to discharge problems, it's safe to assume that Reaper-type engine is the only possible way for intergalactic travel. Which gives us about 220 years to reach Andromeda. Seems about right to me.

 

the solid writing Bioware used to be known for.

Hahaha... Ahem, sorry, couldn't hold myself, since I saw all those hundred pages long plothole threads for each ME game.

[saladinbob]

Reaper FTL is 30 LY/prh, and since Citadel ships are incapable of long travel due to discharge problems, it's safe to assume that Reaper-type engine is the only possible way for intergalactic travel. Which gives us about 220 years to reach Andromeda. Seems about right to me.

Hahaha... Ahem, sorry, couldn't hold myself, since I saw all those hundred pages long plothole threads for each ME game.

 

You're probably of a younger generation than me, mate. I'm talking late nighties, early two thousands. Pre-EA days which is what Bioware's reputation is built upon.

[ElitePinecone]

That's going to take some time to find a hospitable planet.

 

Indeed!

 

That may be why there's a Pathfinder Initiative in the first place, according to the leaked marketing survey. 

 

If another theory is true and people are still living on the ark ship - which could be this thing - sending out explorers to chart new worlds sounds like at the very least a reasonable premise for the new game.