The Official Mass Effect Thread

[X Knight]

I wouldn't mind if the "canon/cover" hero was female this time around.

 

[Nathan]

You do get a chance near the end of the game to say sorry to miranda and regain her loyalty, but you can't romance her now.

Nope, doesn't work. Even re-loaded the save to ask her again right before the jump, when I tell EDI I want to make sure we're ready. Dialogue option is greyed out.

BTW, neogaf has some info on the a secret ME4 panel at PAX.

Spoiler

So long story short I saw that tweet from Mike Gamble a few weeks ago that said "...if you love Mass Effect and are going to PAX Prime email me..." And so I did and then I stumbled upon this forum of like-minded people and thought I'd make an account in case there was something shown to support IT; cause if you're like me waiting for something, anything, is painful enough. Needless to say I was one of the 21 people that got to give feedback on the concepts as they showed them and gave us tiny cryptic bits of information.

So I'll start by saying that they did show us a metric ****-ton of concept art with very brief explanations. I don't even know of a logical order to start in.

They started off with the profound question of what N7 means to us which you might read into it not being a previous cycle I guess.

Then this was followed by asking us whether we wanted a direct sequel, a prequel, or something somewhere completely different at a different time. The resounding majority wanted a sequel series, which I think they knew already. And this is based completely off of my opinion but by judging the concept art it has absolutely got to be a sequel.

First concepts were of two new races. The first one being described as "Arrogant". They were really skinny, almost skeletal. Their bodies vaguely looked like a boney Turian. They had glowing eyes and a neck that frilled up from their chest (once they show it off you'll see how hard it is to describe. Their heads almost remind me of the aliens from Independence Day. The second new race was described as "Ancient, Advanced, and Guardian". They had a similar color scheme to reapers and they looked like classic fantasy/sci-fi golems. Sleek rocky or metallic bodies with bright glowing lines flowing all over them. Some had fragmented pieces and shattered bits floating in place around them.

So I'm thinking sequel because new races are kind of hard to explain in a prequel especially when it does take place in the current cycle and I definitely know that for sure because the next few things they showed us were really nice cg models of an asari, salarian, human, and krogan running in the new frostbite engine. They looked amazing by the way. Also they stated that, like humans having many different features from each other, they wanted to do that with other races. That showed off some salarians and krogans with interesting face and bone structures. They also asked an odd but hard question for everyone. They showed a lineup of a character from each main race in the series and asked us which two would we get rid of if we had to. I couldn't do it but I was sadly surprised at how many people said quarian and krogan.

Anyways, they showed off a random human model wearing various armors and configurations asking us what we liked and thought was potentially iconic. They also showed us a slew of land vehicles that would serve for different environments. And the most interesting vehicle was a personal sized Normandy-esque ship that could "fit a mako-like vehicle in it". So the new races mingling with the old ones and a ship that looks like normandy architecture, sounds like sequel material to me. They said that as always characters and choices are most important and that they want to focus on exploration and discovery again. And then they finished by showing off too many concept art screens in rapid succession for me to be able to grasp anything. Just a whole lot of beautiful and interesting landscapes.

So that's that, I know it didn't quite answer any of our IT questions but if you're like me and have been holding out for 4 holding the answer to IT and the original endings of some dark matter stuff then the fact that this is most likely a sequel is great. And honestly what they showed us was absolutely amazing and I can't wait either way, I just love this universe so much. Thank you all for checking this out.

In summary:

- Opened with "What does N7 mean to you?"
- Asked if they'd like to see a sequel, prequel, or something different. Overwhelming majority said sequel.
- "Arrogant" race. Thin and skeletal. Glowing eyes. Necks that "frilled up from their chest".
- "Ancient, advanced, guardian" race. Like sci-fi stone golems with Tron-like glowing lines over their bodies and floating fragments/shards.
- Asari, Salarian, Human, and Krogam shown in Frostbite 3.
- Want to bring across the model variety of human models to other races, giving them more diverse bone structure.
- Showed a line-up of the series' main races, and asked fans to pick two if they had to get rid of them. Most picked Quarian and Krogan. Speculation: The game has multiple playable races in campaign, and BioWare wants feedback on which they should be.
- Multiple human armour configurations shown. Asked which would be most iconic. Speculation: Marketing query, to work out what should be on the box.
- Multiple land vehicles shown.
- Focus is on character sand choices, but they want to bring back the focus on exploration and discovery.

credit to EatChildren on gaf

Interesting. Can't wait to see what the game looks like in the Frostbite 3 engine. Hopefully they'll also improve the animations. There were often parts in the games, where animations looked rather clunky.

I can't be the only one who misses the Mako.

Hopefully you are, that thing was horrible.

I wouldn't mind if the "canon/cover" hero was female this time around.

I wouldn't mind it either. I'm really enjoying my female Shep, it would really be nice to have a woman as the official face of a new Mass Effect Trilogy.

 

[Benstamania]

I wouldn't mind if they put both of them on the cover.. Maybe back to back.

Or go Dragon Age Origins and allow fully customizable hero of any race and just art on the cover.

 

[TX85]

I don't want a female as the official face like the male default for Shepard in the trilogy nor solo on the cover..But I'd be fine with BOTH being on the cover like one on each side or half of each other on the front or just two covers with the female version on the reverse side so people can switch it around anytime

 

[gohei_]

The ME3 CE box had both male and female Shep on each cover, which was nice.

 

[Iceman]

Anyone hope that Bioware will seriously re-work the Paragon/Renegade system? I'm currently continuing my new ME2 playthrough, and I'm seriously pissed off, because I can't resolve the situation between Miranda and Jack peacefully. Even though I'm pretty much 90% Paragon. And the reason it doesn't work, is because apparently the game has another list in the background, separate from the Paragon/Renegade bar, that keeps a tally of all the choices I made in the game. So if you haven't chosen the Paragon option pretty much all the time, even if you have 100% Paragon, the option will be greyed out for you. Which is just bull****.

I hate the fact that the game pretty much forces you to be either purely good, or evil. Of course you can also choose to mix it up, so I for example choose to be 70% Paragon, and 30% Renegade. A good person with a bit of a mean streak. And I enjoy playing as this Shepard the most. But doing so, the game simply locks away a couple of dialogue options, because you didn't commit to either path. You can only be good, or evil. You actually want to play a character with layers, well, **** you.

Yeah this is an anti-free choice restriction. I never want my character to be 100% paragon or renegade. That makes my character boring and utterly predictable. There's no point even thinking what would my character do/what do I want him to do. Nope, I have to choose good or bad irrespective of what is actually happening. Only even need to read/listen to the choices so that I'm sure which is the evil/good choice.

A mistake in my opinion but I ignored it anyway (apart from the achievements playthroughs) and obviously had the same problem with Miranada & Jack. Shame as at the time I was going for the romance with Miranda which failed but thought Jack was an awesome character. (higher than Miranda on my favourite character list).

 

[Wolfwood]

I hope that when they showed off the new alien races, someone raised their hand and asked "Can we **** these aliens?"

 

[Nathan]

Yeah this is an anti-free choice restriction. I never want my character to be 100% paragon or renegade. That makes my character boring and utterly predictable. There's no point even thinking what would my character do/what do I want him to do. Nope, I have to choose good or bad irrespective of what is actually happening. Only even need to read/listen to the choices so that I'm sure which is the evil/good choice.

A mistake in my opinion but I ignored it anyway (apart from the achievements playthroughs) and obviously had the same problem with Miranada & Jack. Shame as at the time I was going for the romance with Miranda which failed but thought Jack was an awesome character. (higher than Miranda on my favourite character list).

I finished the main story yesterday, and I'm now playing the Shadow Broker DLC. When I got to the hostage part, and I had to decide whether or not to drop my guns, the additional dialogue options were still greyed out. Even though I reached 100% Paragon some time ago. It again ****s me over, because I didn't commit to either path.

Kotaku had a good article up, about how choices in games weren't really choices at all.

Too ​Many Choices Of The Past Gaming Era Weren't Choices At All

Great characters are usually at their best when they're surprising us. A villain who is purely evil is never as interesting as a villain who sometimes expresses kindness. A killer with a code; a monster with a soft spot for kittens. Yet some video games this past generation just didn't seem to get that—they pushed us to play purely evil or purely good.

Imagine: At the end of Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader decides to surprise us all. He stands up behind the Emperor, ready to kill him and save his son Luke Skywalker. Oh, but nope, sorry! He actually can't do that. After a lifetime of evil, Mr. Vader doesn't have the paragon points necessary to do such a thing. He's been evil so long that he can only let his son die, then do whiskey shots with Palpatine while kicking the smoldering corpse.

 

[Iceman]

I finished the main story yesterday, and I'm now playing the Shadow Broker DLC. When I got to the hostage part, and I had to decide whether or not to drop my guns, the additional dialogue options were still greyed out. Even though I reached 100% Paragon some time ago. It again ****s me over, because I didn't commit to either path.

Kotaku had a good article up, about how choices in games weren't really choices at all.

Yes a lot of the choice is just illusion unlike The Walking Dead. Far better to play how you believe your character to be and then you can enjoy making the choices whether or they have consequences later. If some extreme paragon/renegade choices aren't available to me then that's just how it is (although I replayed it for achievements and followed the 'rules' on those playthroughs). All 3 games are among my favourites despite this though.

 

[Iceman]

I hope that when they showed off the new alien races, someone raised their hand and asked "Can we **** these aliens?"

Ha, pretty sure that'll be the case given the Liara action you can have in the original trilogy.

I wouldn't mind if the "canon/cover" hero was female this time around.

I actively want the canon to be female/alien/both next time.

 

[smashmode]

For a sequel, I would hope they add a couple of new alien races (Maybe playable races). They always talk about how there are dozens, hundreds of other races in Citadel space, but we only see a handful.

 

[smashmode]

speaking of Mass Effect, when will they ever release a GOTY edition for all three? I mean EA did it for Dragon Age, with Dragon Age Ultimate. Bethesda has done it for Elder Scrolls/Fallout.

 

[Nathan]

I'm honestly surprised they haven't released a GOTY Edition yet. I guess they think they'll make more money off the DLC sales, when people pick up the games.

 

[Iceman]

They probably will. Mass Effect as a trilogy has some of the best DLC out there.

 

[Benstamania]

I thought the Trilogy set was considered GOTY?

 

[Nathan]

I think the Trilogy set comes only with some of the DLC. They haven't put every single DLC they released into the set.

 

[Wolfwood]

For a sequel, I would hope they add a couple of new alien races (Maybe playable races). They always talk about how there are dozens, hundreds of other races in Citadel space, but we only see a handful.

I just hope you get more on the ship, even if you can't have them in your party. It'd be great to have a Volus in charge of engineering or a Hanar as your navigator. Basically, I just want more variety and interactivity on the ship.

One of the minor thins I didn't enjoy was traveling around the ship to see people. Every now and then you'd hear an NPC drop an interesting tidbit, but I felt that was too far and in between. I'd rather the ship felt more alive by having people move around and interact. Otherwise, it feels like a waste of time to travel to see people when I could easily just call them to the bridge or my cabin to talk.

I know that might be asking for a lot when it isn't a necessity, but the hub stations in Bioware games (Normandy in Mass Effect and Campsite in Dragon Age) tend to feel a little dry. They started to do something unique with Dragon Age 2, but I don't think that idea was fully fleshed out as they were a couple of scripted moments.

 

[Nathan]

I'm definitely in favor of a crew that feels more alive. Maybe even throw in some RPG elements and give you the option to hire new crew members, increase their stats, so a mechanic for example could fix the ship faster. There would always be at least 1 Quarian in Engineering on my ship. And crew members should be able to work independently. Go wherever they are currently needed, maybe have a daily routine that takes them throughout the entire ship, so they aren't always on the same spot 24/7.

 

[Donut]

I'm honestly surprised they haven't released a GOTY Edition yet. I guess they think they'll make more money off the DLC sales, when people pick up the games.

I'd imagine they would make next gen versions with a GOTY trilogy set

 

[Iceman]

I just hope you get more on the ship, even if you can't have them in your party. It'd be great to have a Volus in charge of engineering or a Hanar as your navigator. Basically, I just want more variety and interactivity on the ship.

One of the minor thins I didn't enjoy was traveling around the ship to see people. Every now and then you'd hear an NPC drop an interesting tidbit, but I felt that was too far and in between. I'd rather the ship felt more alive by having people move around and interact. Otherwise, it feels like a waste of time to travel to see people when I could easily just call them to the bridge or my cabin to talk.

I know that might be asking for a lot when it isn't a necessity, but the hub stations in Bioware games (Normandy in Mass Effect and Campsite in Dragon Age) tend to feel a little dry. They started to do something unique with Dragon Age 2, but I don't think that idea was fully fleshed out as they were a couple of scripted moments.

I'm definitely in favor of a crew that feels more alive. Maybe even throw in some RPG elements and give you the option to hire new crew members, increase their stats, so a mechanic for example could fix the ship faster. There would always be at least 1 Quarian in Engineering on my ship. And crew members should be able to work independently. Go wherever they are currently needed, maybe have a daily routine that takes them throughout the entire ship, so they aren't always on the same spot 24/7.

This would make the experience much better. I hope they do this. More variety in general, not just from your squad members.

 

[Soapy]

I'm predicting a next-gen "definitive edition" set or something like that.

 

[Nathan]

A next-gen set of Mass Effect would be sweet.

 

[gohei_]

I Would like to be able to talk friendly to the crew without it leading to a romance.

 

[Benstamania]

I'm predicting a next-gen "definitive edition" set or something like that.

I would buy that. Twice.

 

[Nathan]

And it would probably come with remote play. Mass Effect in bed.