Mass Effect 5 'The Return of Shepard'

Needs to be a Mass effect 4 for their to be a Mass Effect 5

Would I play it? Of course. I love Mass Effect. I loved Shepard.

Would I rather have it than a second Andromeda? No.

Andromeda, like it or hate it, did a lot of heavy lifting on building a world from the ground up. The original Mass Effect, while required to introduce all these races and universe, had the benefit of the story taking place AFTER everything is in place. Humanity already had a place at the Citadel embassies. We already had a fleet. We already had alliances and friendships. We'd met all the races the Milky Way had to offer. We were stepping in to an established world with an established, decorated and well-known character.

Andromeda the game was as ambitious as the Initiative's mission itself. Building a universe from the ground up. We had never been there before, just like our characters. We hadn't met the new races, or established alliances, or settled worlds. We don't even have a military or fleet. By the end of Andromeda, we have these things. We've built a world. We allied with the Angara. We met a new hostile race and won a decisive battle over them, although a likely war still looms in the distance. We are establishing a governance. We've settled worlds. We started off with a character with very little experience, insight or renown. We BECAME that character and created who they are.

I would rather they improve the base they have already created. Make improvements off what they have started. Continue the plot threads that are unfinished. I want to see where Ryder and the crew go from here. I want to branch out of Heleus and see what all is in the dominion of the Kett Empire.

I suppose I benefit from thoroughly enjoying Andromeda as well.


Besides that point, I don't want a canon ending to the trilogy. I don't want Synthesis forced down my throat and Shepard someone magically made to live again if he's dead in a lot of people's playthrough.

As for me? My Shepard is alive. He survived destroying the Reapers, his crew didn't put his name on the wall, he was found and recovered. Now, I like to think he's retired with Ashley, taking Anderson's advice from the cut dialogue that he would make a great father.

Why, after destroying the Reapers, would there be some other galactic event that calls Commander Shepard back in to action to travel the galaxy again? What could possibly top the multi-millennia old threat of galactic annihilation at the hands of the Reapers?

Also would we be receiving an entirely new crew? Why can't any of those crew members be allowed to move on and establish their own lives. Ashley was a spectre and Lieutenant Commander. She's fit to have her own command. Garrus and Tali are together in my playthrough and both are well-established, well seasoned members of their respective races. I'm sure Tali is off settling Rannoch with her people. I'm sure Garrus has a significant place with the Turians, or went with Tali. Liara is the Shadow Broker. James... ah heck, I don't really care where he is. Fine, James can still be on the ship. All the ME2 characters moved on before ME3 even started and didn't join me on the ship to fight the Reapers. Why would they now?

I don't want all these characters I've grown to love to forever live in Shepard's shadow and be just "Shepard's crew".

I would be down with returning to the Milky Way but I don't want to keep playing as Shepard. I want a fresh character with a fresh perspective. That is one thing I like about Ryder. I like buiding my character into a legend. Playing as Shepard again after taking on the Reapers would feel anticlimactic.

In your opinion.

Shakespearean.

"Gravity is one mean mother"

I cannot wait till Mass Effect 5 - Shepard or Ryder, with everything BW and EA got through, they will definiately make the game exceptional and awesome

How should that line have been written?

No.

Continue on with Andromeda, see what we can do with the series new continuity.

Right. Ryder will have matured and a few years down the road, as long as EA doesn't screw over their own employees (haha, wishful thinking) these same writers will also have matured professionally and hopefully as a person. The writing was good and had lots of potential. It played it too safe and that may not have been a writer's prerogative. I can see that dismally, inept PR and Marketing coming down to visit to inspire more garbage than actually artistic content. 

Mass Effect 3 put a pretty solid bow on the story regardless of the ending you chose. No need for any more direct sequels with Shepard.

I'm genuinely interested in continuing the story of the Ryder twins and Andromeda.

Okay, then. With being said, I'm excited. Dylan and DA4 are on the docket. HR, from what it sounds like, hit the hard 'reset' button. Marketing still is as useless as my nipples. But overall, from what I little I know and just hear from amateur YouTubers is that Bioware listened. They still need their own official forums or put on payroll the guys that made this forum happen. Communication is so important when it comes to the art Bioware makes. It's not a single artist on an easel. It's not a musician or even a band making music. It's not a single author putting out a book. It's an amalgamation of all these things and INTERACTIVITY. Bioware is, in my opinion, a master of this medium. It's not alone, though. CD ProjektRed, Rockstar and even Bethesda to some extent are making their case to be better than Bioware. Fans of CDPR have already claimed that title, and frankly, I can't disagree. Do I love competition? You bet I do. It's what spurs and motivates to be better than your current state. Do I believe Bioware 2.0 is better than Bioware 1.0? Not yet, but do I see improvement? Yes and they're going to eventually earn that Bioware reputation. Right now, they're still baptized by fire thanks to Frostbite. Edmonton has to lead by example, and I'm sorry, but everything wrong with Inquisition was played out in Andromeda. Montreal is not to blame for that. I also believe there was a near-catastrophic failure by HR and PR because you don't lose leads like that and in that number no matter how big the project is. NASA had less employees on the Rover missions and they made unsung history. The hours were terrible, the funding was always questionable, but they were passionate about what they did. They poured love into their work. I saw that in a lot of places in Andromeda, but for every "Woohoo! moment, there was "F***! I just replayed this m*****f*****ing level. (CENSOR ME FOR ABOUT 50 SECONDS. IMAGINE TOURRETTE'S ON SUPER CRACK.) I'm so tired of this bullcrap." I ENVY the gamers that said they had no issues. ENVY THEM. Anyway, I ramble, but I love Bioware's artistry in all its complicated levels. As long as they stick to being genuine, the competition will always admire from 2nd place.