127 réponses à ce sujet

[Iakus]

Which parts were actually retcons? The relays were defunct pre-EC, and they're defunct after the EC. Sure, the time to get the network working again is shorter post-EC, but shorter than what? We don't have data on either time-frame.

A bunch of defensible interpretations were ruled out, but that's not quite the same thing as a retcon.

The original ending the Catalyst outright says the relays would be destroyed, regardless or color or EMS.  This was retconned in ME3.  The only notable retcon, I believe.

[Iakus]

I would ignore the 3 endings the game has and create another ending. Didn't the guy tell the kid the details have changed over time?

Shepard as a fictional character in the Mass Effect universe is definitely an idea with appeal for me.

 

Multiverse theory. All the endings are canon, they're just in a parallel universe. Maybe the one where everyone has a goatee.

If I could make Shepard with a goatee appear in MEA, I'd definitely go for this

 

 

By making the Indoctrination Theory cannon? (god please no)

 

 

By canonizing Shepard's death in ME2.

. . .no wait, that's my dream for Andromeda. :U

 

ME3's endings are so bad, I'd happily go with either of these ideas.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

Prior to the EC it was heavily implied that galactic civilization collapsed for eons. The EC retcon'd that with the High EMS endings by having the relays repaired within a single lifetime. Hackett, who was at least in his 50s, describes the relays as being repaired in High EMS Destroy. He experiences the repair during his lifetime.

 

There were some changes to the Catalyst's dialogue as well. Prior to the EC for example the Catalyst said that Destroy would wipe out Synthetics, but in the EC he adds that every thing destroyed could potentially be repaired. The EC raised the possibility of a rebuilt Geth or EDI, whereas that wasn't on the table pre-EC.

 

The Normandy crew also no longer remains stranded on the Uncharted World with the Extended Cut.

Synthesis was also changed. Originally it was all organics would become part synthetic and all synthetics would become part organic, but it was changed to all organics becoming part synthetic and thus synthetics can understand organics. 

[Jaquio]

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the change of setting, saying that they're throwing away the Milky Way. I've seen some people say that they should "face up" to the divisive endings by addressing them in the next game. And I've seen some (silly) people say that changing the setting nullifies the original trilogy and makes it entirely pointless.
What I don't see are ways that they could have made a sequel in the Milky Way that doesn't require canonizing an ending or homogenizing them all together to erase any ramifications of the separate choices.

Any ideas?

 

The best answer I could give isn't economically feasible.  But if you want the best idea I've come up with here you go.  Before people start to crap all over it, it was conceived and punched up in like 10 minutes.  So here goes:

 

Three separate game modes  I think with incredibly creative writing and a fair bit of sleight of hand, you could share the vast amount of resources through shared locations.  The biggest resource waste would be all the different text you would need.  I still think the vast majority of the game could be the same with a big of creativity.

 

The three endings could even be coded towards difficulty levels.  Synthesis is easy, Control is normal, Destory is hard. 

 

Storyline:  A highly intelligent race (Elder Race from now on) has managed to elude the attention of the reapers, and all others, for a few cycles because they managed to harness the power of Dark Energy through a Convenient MacGuffin®.  But their ability to use Dark Energy (DE from now on) is limited in scope.  At best, for the last 100,000 years they've been able to hide, but they've worked to weaponize their knowledge and end the reapers once and for all.  The Haestrom issue was a weapon experiment of theirs in the final stages.

 

 

Synthesis:  The Elder Race has shielded themselves from the effects of synthesis using their DE devices.  They view the synthesis of organic and artificial life as abhorrent and will the result in something even worse than the reapers in the future.  They are rushing to weaponize their DE to purge the galaxy of all life and rebuild.

 

Synthesis Gameplay: Easiest because of incorporation of technology to organic life.  Rudimentary auto aim enabled.  Auto regeneration of health.  Some unique side quests.

 

 

Control:  The Elder Race has shileded themselves, but now see the reapers as governed and fear that they will soon be found.  They are rushing to weaponize their DE to purge the galaxy of the reaper threat once and for all.  They view the intelligent species of the galaxy as all indoctrinated, and thus no better than the reapers.

 

Control Gameplay:  Medium because more infrastructure means more bases, more shops, easier exploration.  Some quests are solved by utilization of the reapers.  Some unique side quests.

 

 

Destroy:  The Elder Race sees nothing but seething chaos in the remains.  They want to rebuild but view the intelligent species of the galaxy as unintelligent monsters.  They wish to weaponize the DE so they can put the intelligent species of the galaxy under their control as slaves and rebuild the galaxy in their own way.

 

Destory Gameplay:  Hardest because the galaxy is in absolute shambles.  Very little infrastructure, very little support.  Lots of races are in conflict with each other as outright civil war breaks out.  A base that's fully functioning and have quests in Control might be filled with hostile mercenaries in Destroy, for example.  Less quests, more fighting.

 

 

Just some rambling thoughts I threw together while cooking.

[capn233]

Honestly there is no reason to be limited to the endings as presented in the games.  Given how unpopular they were, I don't see any reason to respect them.

 

Of course simply picking Destroy or Control is pretty simple.  Destroy making the most sense, since you don't have to solve or address the issue of omnipotent Shepard in the future.

 

Picking Refuse drastically limits the direction the series can take in the future.  It is either limited to all new alien species, or requires something like Andromeda where an ark of council species escaped.

 

Synthesis doesn't require future games since everyone is in a magical utopia.

[DoomsdayDevice]

How could they have stayed in the Milky Way without canonizing an ending or homogenizing the endings?

Easy enough, there's only one solution: IT.

The Reapers are still out there in all of the endings, even in destroy.

None of the endings actually happened. Control and synthesis result in an indoctrinated/dead Shepard, but if Shepard demonstrated the intention to destroy the Reapers, he did not get indoctrinated. Shepard ends up being destroyed by the Reapers in this case, unless he gathered enough assets to survive the attempt on his life (hence the breath scene and the rubble), which would be the only way to continue the story. In that case Shepard is alive, and the Reapers are still out there.

Problem solved.

This wouldn't even canonize an ending, there would just be only one way to continue the story.

[LinksOcarina]

Those people are deluding themselves. It isn't possible.

 

In order to create a direct sequel to ME3 within the Milky Way, they'd need to either use only one of the ending choices as the sole basis for the sequel (not necessarily the same thing as sole canon), or aim for some sort of weird mashup all of three ending choices.

 

They could also potentially retcon as well I suppose, but I think that is the least likely route Bioware would go with a Milky Way sequel.

 

Writing and a few distinct cut-scenes. Thats all it could take.

 

People just might not be happy with it. 

[MrFob]

They could just make 3 games .

[LinksOcarina]

They could just make 3 games .

 

You know, while this is a joke, It would be funny if they did this as a sequel...

 

and make them digital downloads only.

[Iakus]

They could just make 3 games .

Of course, you'd also need Mid and Low EMS versions.

[AlanC9]

How could they have stayed in the Milky Way without canonizing an ending or homogenizing the endings? Easy enough, there's only one solution: IT.The Reapers are still out there in all of the endings, even in destroy.None of the endings actually happened. Control and synthesis result in an indoctrinated/dead Shepard, but if Shepard demonstrated the intention to destroy the Reapers, he did not get indoctrinated. Shepard ends up being destroyed by the Reapers in this case, unless he gathered enough assets to survive the attempt on his life (hence the breath scene and the rubble), which would be the only way to continue the story. In that case Shepard is alive, and the Reapers are still out there.Problem solved.This wouldn't even canonize an ending, there would just be only one way to continue the story.

Loathesome as it is, it works. But if Shepard's alive, why aren't we playing as him?

[capn233]

^Because Shepard is too old for this ****.

[Indigenous]

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the change of setting, saying that they're throwing away the Milky Way. I've seen some people say that they should "face up" to the divisive endings by addressing them in the next game. And I've seen some (silly) people say that changing the setting nullifies the original trilogy and makes it entirely pointless.
What I don't see are ways that they could have made a sequel in the Milky Way that doesn't require canonizing an ending or homogenizing them all together to erase any ramifications of the separate choices.

Any ideas?

I think it's quite easy to be honest with you.

 

Put the game like a thousand years in the future and have elements of all the endings except refusal (that was just stupid Bioware). So you could have synthetic and organic lifeforms allied together against the synth-bio hybrids. In a galaxy where most of the reapers were destroyed but some managed to survive but were subsequently captured and controlled.

 

I'm sure you could fit in refusal into that somehow. After Shepard destroys the majority of the reapers, and controls the rest, the catalyst tries to persuade into synthesis but Shepard refuses () but the catalyst pretends he lost his hearing and sacrifices Shepard to make it possible.

 

Bioware could probably do a better job than that and I still think going to Andromeda would be more fun than anything we could do in the Milky way.

[Salarian Master Race]

Do we expect there to be Mass Relays in Andromeda?

 

No?

 

Then how is that any different than exploring the Attican Traverse

[Former_Fiend]

One suggestion I had heard tossed around was that the fourth game would have taken place concurrently with the original game, just focusing on a different side of the war than the one we see with Shepard.

 

It's a big enough Galaxy and a big enough war that that could have worked, though the story would inherently have to be smaller and less important than ME3.

[JeffZero]

Prequels, midquels, et al are actually the one thing that would have innately turned me off, to the point that I'd be uber-cautious, as many are now due to the Andromeda angle. So I'm grateful and lucky that they didn't go that route.

[Kabooooom]

After conversing at length with the more vocal people who spout what the OP is asking for clarification on, it became quite apparent to me that they have no alternative, no creative out, that they haven't actually put forth any intelligent thought into it at all and they are just pissed off that the story moved to Andromeda. Plain and simple. They're just mad and frustrated, and they feel entitled and think mass effect should be how they want it to be.

And I bet they will still buy Andromeda on day one too, because they are all talk.

[Mcfly616]

How? Easy. You set the game within the current timeline, not after ME3. Of course there's always some naysayer talking about "but the Reapers are like a dark cloud" or "but prequels" or "move forward not backward". All totally off base.

[spinachdiaper]

If they actually wanted to continue things directly after ME3 it would have to be a mashed up multiverse with possible time and dimensional travel while other serious loop hole continuity issues permeate the plot.    

[DoomsdayDevice]

Loathesome as it is, it works. But if Shepard's alive, why aren't we playing as him?

Yeah, that's the million dollar question. I'm really kind of puzzled by the bizarre move to Andromeda. Not sure what Bioware are thinking, really. It just seems insane.

[Battlebloodmage]

They could just make 3 games .

It works for pokemon.

 

[AlanC9]

Yeah, that's the million dollar question. I'm really kind of puzzled by the bizarre move to Andromeda. Not sure what Bioware are thinking, really. It just seems insane.

Oh, no, that isn't where I was going with that at all. It's just fine to not play Shepard anymore as it is, since that story's over. But the whole point of IT is that the Reaper War didn't end in ME3, so we should be playing Shepard in ME4 if IT was going to be true.

[Malleficae]

Come on people. Staying in one galaxy is lame. We live in times where we most likely won't see anything beyond Earth. MEA will give us chance to see something BEYOND. ISN'T THAT AWESOME. COME ON. BE HYPED WITH ME.

[DoomsdayDevice]

Oh, no, that isn't where I was going with that at all. It's just fine to not play Shepard anymore as it is, since that story's over. But the whole point of IT is that the Reaper War didn't end in ME3, so we should be playing Shepard in ME4 if IT was going to be true.

No, I totally see where you're coming from. I was just saying that, theoretically it would be a scenario that answers the OP's question. As for IT being true, we still won't know either way if ME:A ignores any and all repercussions of the trilogy endings. And I'm sure it will because why else the move to another galaxy? The only logical explanation for that seems to be an unwillingness on Bioware's part to deal with the endings. Who knows what their original plans were. Perhaps the plans changed. The writing team sure did. We'll probably never know.

All I know is that for me it doesn't feel like that story's over at all. Especially with that "one more story about the Shepard" line at the end of the game. Even with all the DLC, it still doesn't feel like we actually got that one more story. But maybe that's just me.

It doesn't really matter now, I guess. Bioware is obviously going for something completely different. Which would be fine, if the way they did it wouldn't feel like such a massive cop-out.

[Ahglock]

Oh, no, that isn't where I was going with that at all. It's just fine to not play Shepard anymore as it is, since that story's over. But the whole point of IT is that the Reaper War didn't end in ME3, so we should be playing Shepard in ME4 if IT was going to be true.

 

He's indoctrinated to the point that he is now the villain, the lackey of the reapers Saren 2.0. And he already comes with cyborg parts.