Keeping the same protagonist in MEA games?

I don't really have an opinion on it, as long as they (bioware) are making a good game I will play it, no matter if I play as one person in multi games or if they shift every game. I don't even care if they make me a different species.

Btw, did you atleast try to make a shorter title? Took me a while to read it.

my mistake

If I could pick, I'd probably go with keeping the same PC

*cough*

stealth mod title edit...

I would be fine with keeping the protagonist for the sequels.

It sounds more like Ryder will be in a scenario like Hawke in the DA series.
They may show up but not be the character we control.
At least that is what I get from it. Mac Walters is being ambivalent as usual.

Despite the fact that plot continuity is a unique and positive aspect of BioWare RPG (on the whole), I actually want a different protagonist each game. It's a lovely idea, but it engenders a number of design features I think BioWare would be better off outgrowing.

The audience expects the story to build, or at least, BioWare think the audience expects the story to build. Either way, we're left with a continuous narrative that BioWare feel particularly compelled to 1-up with every entry. And as much as I'd like to think they'd 1-up their own stories with deeper plots and more nuanced political interactions, BioWare have only ever proven that they can make bigger bads and higher stakes. With a new protagonist (and presumably a new crew) there's a good chance that the structure of an anthology might whip the writers into creating smaller, more internally complex narratives than ever-expanding epics.

On a similar note, I just can't stand the rapidly growing amount of fan service in BioWare games. I like it in moderation, but BioWare apparently just can't resist stuffing their games with more and more self-reference. To stem the tide, I think BioWare should just end their stories before they gain so much emotional inertia with the fans. BioWare's writing shouldn't be beholden to what the fans want see, but unless BioWare grows a pair (probably won't happen), they should just design their games to be inherently immune to fan service.

Most importantly, I just don't think it can be done very well quite yet. Maintaining choice and consequence over multiple games has proven to be incredibly difficult. There's a reason our crew can't die (as rumor has it) in Andromeda; it's too much for more than one game to handle. If we ever want a BioWare game with proper choice and consequence, we'll either need to wait for the tech to get there (decades at least) or ask for more self-contained narratives.

I would prefer a new protagonist each game. When you create a continuing saga with one character you end up creating this one super important larger-than-life figure responsible for the fate of everyone and everything, but with little actual effect on the game world. It also limits the kind of stories they can tell, because instead of being able to create a fresh narrative for each game, they're bogged down by having to continue the story of this one particular character. And including the various companions who were fan favorites in some fashion. And making things in the world reflect various decisions. And so on.

I enjoyed Shepard and the ME trilogy - I played it all the way through recently and I love it and Shepard - but it's really just one long story told in three parts. From now on I'd prefer to see tighter, self-contained narratives with all new characters and companions and moral dilemmas with each game.

I hope they take the Dragon Age approach from now on. But, where they're already planning for future stories within that world so our old protagonists can re-appear in a way that doesn't feel like an afterthought. Or where enough time has passed that we can leave them behind completely. I thought Hawke's inclusion in DAI was done pretty well - I know many fans screamed that s/he seemed OOC to them but I didn't really get that feeling personally (and no matter how s/he was portrayed, it wouldn't have pleased everybody). And at least s/he felt like a real person with a real stake in the story's events rather than the mysterious always-off-screen Warden that's just tacked on because, fan service.

I'm unsure.

I'd rather wait and see whether I like the protagonist and his or her companions.

I don't have a problem with either format, but I think eventually a protagonist needs to be replaced for the story has become stale. With the first Mass Effect games there was too much baggage they were trying to cram into new games and Shepard needed to go. Even looking at Dragon Age, I don't think having a reoccurring protagonist would have worked as well as a new one for they were trying to show different conflicts in the world and trying to explain why The Warden kept showing up everywhere would becoming annoying to me as a player.

oh look the op wants the same stupid crap that made ME so messed up its not even funny . gamers want choice but when it comes down to making choices gamers want the same ol crap