Mass Effect 5...or 4...? - Are we all pretending Andromeda is canon, or not?

[XMassAllYearRound]

They didn't even finish Andromeda's DLC and they're already working on a new game? That seems suspicious.

Hopefully this is it, Bioware's last hurrah; whether this is a trainwreck that sinks the company or a masterpiece that somehow shatters all expectations and saves them I don't see this announcement as a bad thing.

 

[Miller]

Making a game set after ME3 is a dumber decision than ME:A.
Andromeda was the unique opportunity to save the IP by starting fresh in another galaxy with the Council races that joined the expedition but Bioware had the same shitty writers who couldn't imagine what life would be in another galaxy: the Angarans (aka "shit, I got drunk and passed out and I have to deliver a character design for tomorrow but the model didn't get past the first pass at Zbrush so please don't look at their torso") and the Kett (only 2 races, really?!) with some plot elements and aesthetic lifted from Halo 4 (the Remnant structures looking exactly like the Forerunner constructions, the shield world, etc.).
A new game set after ME3 means that they will have to stick to the established canon.

Geth companion return when
And please for the love of god not some quirky written robutt
Give me the legion experience

Well, we saw in ME:A that they couldn't stop themselves from writing Whedon dialogues. I think they will double down.

Honestly if Mass effect's franchise ended at 2 or 3 I would have been happy.

Technically, Mass Effect ended after the prologue of ME2 when they killed Shepard.

 

[DapperShark]

You couldn't even pay me to pirate this shit.

 

[Milwaukee Macho Man]

Also you are deluded if you think they are going to canonize an ending or utilise Shepard any way outside of vague references. They will either do a deus ex tier cop out where all the endings happened in some way or handwave it with "Shepard activated the crucible and ended the Reaper threat" with no further elaboration.

None of the endings work in a way where you can just handwave them with "The Reapers were defeated."

One literally has everyone become half organic/half synthetic leading to complete harmony, the other one has the Reapers become an omnipresent force of protectors throughout the milky way. (basically bringing about peace albeit more fascisty if you had a renegade shep)

They need to bite the bullet and just make the ending where Shepard might have survived canon. It's easier to handwave the Geth/Edi somehow not dying from the beam than to handwave complete harmony and understanding or Reaper protectors being everywhere.

To handwave the endings as just "Shepard stopped the Reaper threat" is basically saying that destroy was the ending because of the major changes the other two endings brought to the galaxy. (since it's modern Bioware, that will probably be what they do even if it isn't the intention)

Edit: Also isn't Dragon Age still on a massive cliffhanger? You would think if things at Bioware are so dire they'd use their last hurrah to finish that up.

 

[Big Blue Titties]

It's an easy choice to make Destroy canon and I expect they'll do it. Funniest thing they could do though would be to make indoctrination theory canon.

Hell, what is even left of Bioware at this point? I guess enough to try and reboot Dragon Age, which I also am dubious of.

Patrick Weekes (guy who wrote Mordin, ME3 Tuchanka arc) is still working for BioWare. However, he's now a they/them who writes books about shapeshifting trannies and is buddies with people from the Rat King.

 

[MavisBeaconTeachesSnipin]

it will be shit no matter what they do so, why bother?

so that people can screencap the things retarded devs say on twitter and get mad

 

[Miller]

Patrick Weekes

I knew his wife and him were complete nutjobs but I wasn't ready for the gender reveal in that Dragon Age/Bioware video from E3.

Spoiler

 

[Johan Schmidt]

Making a game set after ME3 is a dumber decision than ME:A.
Andromeda was the unique opportunity to save the IP by starting fresh in another galaxy with the Council races that joined the expedition but Bioware had the same shitty writers who couldn't imagine what life would be in another galaxy: the Angarans (aka "shit, I got drunk and passed out and I have to deliver a character design for tomorrow but the model didn't get past the first pass at Zbrush so please don't look at their torso") and the Kett (only 2 races, really?!) with some plot elements and aesthetic lifted from Halo 4 (the Remnant structures looking exactly like the Forerunner constructions, the shield world, etc.).
A new game set after ME3 means that they will have to stick to the established canon.


Well, we saw in ME:A that they couldn't stop themselves from writing Whedon dialogues. I think they will double down.


Technically, Mass Effect ended after the prologue of ME2 when they killed Shepard.

Annoyingly there are plot threads that could be interesting in an Andromeda sequel. Colonising a sector is a cool idea, the Krogan are working their way through the genophage in Andromeda and have set up what looks like an actual functional society, the Angarans just found out they were an entirely engineering test tube species; the Kett Empire is out for blood.

Shit could be interesting.

Shame it won't be.

 

[Honored guest]

No Zaeed no care

Unfortunately the VA passed away, rip Robin Sachs

I'm still salty how they handled the series, they could of made a game or two about the sectors of space that had xenophobic civilizations that destroyed anything that popped out of the mass relays, they could of done so much while having the Reapers be a looming threat in the background with reaper agents running around. Everyone worth a damn that worked on the first game is gone so any new Mass Effect games will be shit.

 

[KittyGremlin]

As one of the people who actually didn't hate Andromeda, I'm curious, but reserving my judgement for now. Wasn't expecting to see Liara.

I don't think it's the worst game from mechanics perspective, but the characters are meh and so was the story.

Either way, anyone else think this could also be a prequel set in the First Contact war?

 

[Maude Snew]

I mean, this could be okay if its about Shepard trying to unfuck the galaxy right after the Reapers are vanquished and all the old grudges start flaring back up. Big threat defeated, but why rebuild when you can take from your nemeses? The Council races almost certainly hate mankind over Udina and Cerberus, and someone was left unhappy as all fuck thanks to the genophage arc, either the Salarians or the Turians, and you've got the krogans back with their population starting to recover (aided by genophage or even not since they probably made out the best compared to everyone else due to their smaller numbers) and everyone else devastated by the Reapers. Don't introduce a threat, don't hint at a threat, just make it galactic politics, and Shepard, as one of the few living Spectres and hero of the Reaper Invasion, has to try and make sure things don't completely fall apart in the aftermath as everyone starts threatening full-scale war.

Yeah I can see this working if done well but I don't doubt for a second that if they do politics with who's left at Bioware it will be you have to defeat evil space dictator Drump the orange alien.

 

[Agarathium1066]

Going to stick to low expectations after they've pumped out nothing but sub-par quality goods but I think it's possible to make an ME game continuing the universe without it being an utter trainwreck. Given the woke-focused stuff I've seen from their Dragon Age releases I don't have high hopes for their writers, but it is possible.

I'd personally prefer to not bring back too many of the same team mates, or have them in a position similar to Wrex in later games. There's been so much time with most of the older characters that they should be doing their own thing now. Given Liara's presence in the trailer I've got a feeling she and the other fan favored shippees will be returning though.

 

[Caustic Gelatin]

I don't know guys. Maybe if I stick the fork into the electric socket it won't shock this time!

The only response someone saying "OH BOY A NEW MASS EFFECT GAME!" should be meet with should be pointing fingers and heavy laughter.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Seeing those portal relays broken...
They use the perfect ending (only reachable with that free DLC or spending time in the multiplayer). In that the reapers are destroyed but Shepard survive with a large deep breath near the end of the cgi
I'm sure they gonna fucked up again, and i don't fucking care.

Yeah, this is what I reckon they would do, because unless it's meant to be a new protagonist or another clone, you can't really continue any other way. Plus you can't import the old saves unless they really are doing that 4K remaster for the PS5/Xbox X so you can replay the trilogy and then import your save, but there'd be too many variables at that point.

 

[Miller]

Unfortunately the VA passed away, rip Robin Sachs

I'm still salty how they handled the series, they could of made a game or two about the sectors of space that had xenophobic civilizations that destroyed anything that popped out of the mass relays, they could of done so much while having the Reapers be a looming threat in the background with reaper agents running around. Everyone worth a damn that worked on the first game is gone so any new Mass Effect games will be shit.

It's sad how the franchise went from having a Star Trek and Babylon 5 feel to full on "Cerberus Man Bad".
There's a huge downgrade and streamlining done between ME1 and ME2 in terms of gameplay and storytelling. You play a different game after the prologue of ME2. I wish they didn't make Cerberus the big villain, I bet they did that based on the feedback from their Tumblr audience who were pinching their nose whenever Ashley was making xenophobic remarks.

 

[Back me up!]

The worst was most people were too dumb to understand what Ashley was saying (that species watch out for their own, not that she hated everyone non human) and guess what! She was right.

 

[Johan Schmidt]

The worst was most people were too dumb to understand what Ashley was saying (that species watch out for their own, not that she hated everyone non human) and guess what! She was right.

Yeah. Williams entire point could basically be boiled down to 'Isn't it weird that we have a myriad of random aliens on a secret stealth warship' Which it was.

 

[Kane Lives]

This is just EA puppetering the Bioware skinsuit at this point.

Who even wants this?

 

[April Ryan]

All I can say is that I'm so goddamn sick of Liara-Fucking-T'soni. She is not one player's favorite character and this forced meme of trying to make her the iconic, recognizable aspect of the time the games were successful goes like a lead balloon for me.

Bad enough that she was forced into your shit from the beginning of ME3. She's milquetoast.

The stats Bioware released about all the shit players did in 3 show that over 50% of all players had Liara has LI.

Meaning she was more popular among the general audience, or at least few cared enough to move off the "default" path, than every other LI put together.

 

[Pargon]

The stats Bioware released about all the shit players did in 3 show that over 50% of all players had Liara has LI.

Meaning she was more popular among the general audience, or at least few cared enough to move off the "default" path, than every other LI put together.

That's misleading data. If you start a playthrough of ME3 with no import data she's the only LI available to complete a playthrough with.