Mass Effect 3!

[Engared]

The 4th game's actually more than a rumor at this point. Casey Hudson announced it was under production 5 days ago. He even said "At this point we're not really sure where we're going. We're even open to suggestions from the fans." How true or not that sentiment is I dunno but ME4 appears to be on the way.

My suggestion: If the reapers exist in a player's game then we get rid of them like so: A mysterious new threat is detected at the edge of the galaxy. The reaper fleet heads off to investigate it. Something something dark energy, Reapers mysteriously vanish.

If the reapers do not exist, then we say something else vanished like let's say an alliance or a citadel aligned fleet. Therefore, people who picked endings A and B are now at exactly the same place as people who picked ending C with little variation other than the occasional line of dialogue. We establish either way that the new threat is indeed a threat and if the galaxy was counting on the reaper's protection that is no longer an option, spurring the necessity of the quest and providing the player an impetus.

See another problem I have with the endings (this is just another one of the many problems I have with them but I'll avoid that for the purpose of this discussion) is that they are a closed book on the Mass Effect universe. The universe post ME3 endings ceases to be interesting.

This is ironic because a simple "beat the Reapers back" ending or indoctrination theory ending which a lot of the fans who despise the current endings are clamoring for, would have perfectly set up the 4th game. The possibilities from here are endless and would not be very far fetched or drastic at all.

The only current ending to me which is remotely interesting is the destroy ending because the society has been plunged into a recovery state, without any help from powerful AI etc and the living beings have to do it on their own with limited resources. This would have some potential for an interesting story. Wars between humans and turians perhaps? The remaining batarians becoming refugees and terrorists?

However, it does lose the great opportunity to use the fantastic AI villains: the Geth and the remnants of the Reaper fleet or AI recurring characters such as EDI.

The control ending is extremely boring and would take a colossal shake-up in order to bring the galaxy back into crisis, cause the God-mode Shepard with his/her reaper fleet would quickly end any and all problems in the Mass Effect universe.

The synthesis ending is just plain dumb in my opinion. And frankly I don't see how they can continue the story from that ending at all. SPACE MAGIC WOOOOOOOOO! "Gee, I am glad that my penis is now always hard thanks to the machine parts in it!" No, just an utter No.

The refusal ending is offensive to me. Its basically Bioware giving a big "fuck you" to all the fans who wanted a better ending. I am still waiting for an apology from them (in the form of a retcon, new game etc) and will not pay another cent for a Mass Effect product or Bioware product until they give us one. However, it could be potentially interesting (but it will never sell because very few humans in it) if there was an Ark and the normandy's crew survives to the next cycle. But that will never happen.

And if they set ME4 prior to ME3...yeah that's money EA won't be getting from me unless they retcon ME3.

 

[Age_of_Truth]

I'm just hoping that the rumored 4th game is actually the indoctrination theory but that's wishful at this point.

Have a question to people who actually liked the ending, will you be adverse to the indoctrination theory if that is the focus of the 4th game?

I'm not sure I entirely understand the question, sorry. You mean the idea that the whole end is a dream? Because I think the end is very much all about indoctrination (that's one of the main things me and Destinizish were talking about over the last couple of pages), but I don't think it's all a dream.

If they say "it was all a dream after the Harbinger blast", then I guess I'll be a bit disappointed because it will mean my interpretation of the ending was wrong, but I won't be disappointed with the game or Bioware. IT is a pretty good theory that explains a lot of the confusing things quite tidily and still makes the ending pretty impactful IMO. Not everyone agrees of course, but I wouldn't claim that anyway.

In short, no I won't be averse, I think the ending is really good irrespective of who turns out to be right.

 

[Engared]

I'm not sure I entirely understand the question, sorry. You mean the idea that the whole end is a dream? Because I think the end is very much all about indoctrination (that's one of the main things me and Destinizish were talking about over the last couple of pages), but I don't think it's all a dream.

If they say "it was all a dream after the Harbinger blast", then I guess I'll be a bit disappointed because it will mean my interpretation of the ending was wrong, but I won't be disappointed with the game or Bioware. IT is a pretty good theory that explains a lot of the confusing things quite tidily and still makes the ending pretty impactful IMO. Not everyone agrees of course, but I wouldn't claim that anyway.

In short, no I won't be averse, I think the ending is really good irrespective of who turns out to be right.

You hit the nail on the head really.

 

[Ghengis_John]

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Just curious here guys, but where would you pick up for the start of game 4? Particularly if you think the end of three dealt with indoctrination? What would you guys like to see out of a fourth game?

 

[Age_of_Truth]

Just curious here guys, but where would you pick up for the start of game 4? Particularly if you think the end of three dealt with indoctrination? What would you guys like to see out of a fourth game?

I really don't know. The hardest thing is, I think they'd have to incorporate humans. I think they'd struggle to sell if there were no human characters in. But then, they'd need to settle on a canon ending, which could cause real problems. They dodged this quite neatly with KOTOR, but I don't see how they can here.

One way to dodge it is by having ME4 set near some inactive relay, or some part of the galaxy that didn't have a relay built yet. It would be a place where humans travelled (in the last 30 years or however long it was between human FTL travel and ME3), but where for some reason the relay got switched off before ME3. Say, a colony that was separated from the others after a mass relay failure. Then any Reapers stranded out there could be the bad guys. Or Leviathan, or whatever.

It's hard to see how they can come up with a story that fits neatly with the established ME characters, lore and local systems, unless they actually come out and say "Destroy was right. Easter Egg implied this". It could be risky. Maybe not.

I kind of want there to be a situation where, if you picked Control, there'd be a new Reaper called "The Shepard", but that could seriously upset a lot of players.