Mass Effect '5' speculation (Official Thread)

Anyone know what became of Mac Walters? He has dropped off the face of the earth. Well, the Internet earth.

Here's the current BioWare long-term plan:

Close Mass Effect post-Andromeda.
Prepare for closure of SWTOR.
Reboot Dragon Age due to change of guard.

Focus on Anthem and DA-Next.
Prepare for the successor of SWTOR: Mass Effect Online

If EA don't have Bioware developing another Star Wars game they're wasting the license ...

*looks up at the wall at his Citadel lithograph*

*a tear rolls down his cheek*

This is a mix of speculation (that is, what I consider anywhere in realistic boundaries, possibly more particular predictions), and desire (where I actually want things to go). My 'vision', for better or worse. Its not all things I really want, but what I think may happen that I can handle and maybe enjoy more.


If Anthem is success and further... whatever happens with DA4 is also success, I can see a next ME game having something of a MP integration. Maybe more than DA, but less than Anthem. I imagine Anthem might be the more overt MP title; not all of them have to be. I even have the impression that MEA may have had more MP-ish intentions early that were scuttled; perhaps less squadmate control because of a 'pop in' MP (as squadmate or otherwise?) function. Whatever, I just don't think Bioware would let go of a progression into further MP features - my hope is that for Mass Effect (and Dragon Age) they would also never let go of being perfectly capable of playing effectively all storyline and general content in a single-player mode. This was possible in MEA, though a little suspiciously grindy feeling - APEX reward boost anyone?, ugh. This was possible in DAI, though war table seemed suspiciously like a skeleton of a bigger feature that might have mixed with MP, and there was a bit of MP items (Skyhold decorations and NPCs) about it. ME3 was inept about it, with initial war asset requirements for every ending version, but they later addressed that and changed direction.

What I'd welcome is being able to explore the game with others, even if only one is in a driver seat. One of my favorite childhood games was Legend of Mana, a JRPG where another player (or more? I can't recall) can join the fight with you, even if you control all exploration and story. It'd even import the status of their stats on their save file. But the content is fully completed by one player . If Bioware wants to MP-layer-on-top stuff (raid modes of story bosses, wave attacks if in group mode, all in its own 'setup' apart from a SP experience), then I'm not too bothered. Want the whale money? Ugh, then boosts to progression even if full SP campaign is reasonably less then 150-200 hours (VERY MAX; to compare, DAI and MEA can both be over 100 hours). If they want to press further, I insist on sticking to Anthem for that.


Okay, now that that is out of the way....


-MEA2 but not necessarily done as a full MEA2. That is, I am not a fan of loose threads and MEA is full of them, and I'd want them resolved as soon as possible. But MEA stuff is also among the least popular of the franchise, so it may be smart to underemphasize them compared to otherwise.

-Kett, grow and develop, but avoid as primary antagonist faction. Gethify them, adding detail and perhaps depth, while keeping them in a dangerous role.

-Jaardan, focus on. Perhaps to the point of even wrapping in Milky Way to their story, showing an outgrowing of the Reaper plot. I would not be opposed to a smart integration of a Reaper or neo-Reaper setting placement of Reaper things to the Jaardan though.

-Heleus Cluster, keep but do not stay there. I'd take 1 (not sure about more than that) more game with Nexus as (a) hub, and a focus on checking out the colonies. Especially Eos, of course, but all the planets have something of a story that can be anywhere from touched on to a big deal in the future. I just don't expect to be dealing with raiders in fledgling settlements is all. There's still mystery to Heleus and I'd like at least 1 more game give a damn about that, so lets do that sooner than later.

-Angara have a middling introduction to the MEU, and questionable portrayals (rather too idealistic, but MEA is the Star Trek of the series so its a little cute seeing that idealistic race), but they can be visually reworked and given a much more compelling plot. So do that. Wrap them better into a better storyline.

-Take place years to over a decade after MEA. Maybe it'd be interesting to play as Ryder during Shepard's age range (late 20s-early 30s). Maybe it'd be interesting to play as Ryder after Shepard's age range (late 30s- early 40s, but would Bioware have the guts for 40s? I don't think so). Maybe Ryder is only a companion. Maybe Ryder is only major character. Whatever the case, Ryder has a storyline with loose threads that must be dealt with in the next game for any good.

-While I wouldn't have opted for Andromeda, we're here now and its a waste not to develop it. However, I still want Heleus itself with some things (as I noted earlier). And I actually also want a bridging to Milky Way to occur. This would only be in the sense of an involvement with an Andromeda plot, but still something. My dream situation would be a first half of game which is all Heleus and surrounding (generalized) space, a second half with further out into Andromeda but some later Milky Way involvement/reintegration, and DLC that majority deals with pre and post ending Milky Way adventures and leadup to a post-MEA (that is, ME-Andromeda) world. Why DLC? Because Bioware knows that DLC is more for the fans that keep track of the marketing of these games, and details and characters of the setting past the game itself, that's why DAI DLC went hard about it (especially with the last two; Descent and Trespasser; Descent recalling Deep Roads of DAO and Trespasser addressing speculations of DA4). ME4 can certainly do similarly, with for example a DLC more in the MEA region we are knowing, a DLC further dealing with the relinked Milky Way, and a DLC in whereever but about speculations of ME6.
NOTE: This is not to say I want everything back in Milky Way with Shep and co. And I even agree with some of the sentiment that Milky Way has less story possibility. But I highly disagree with being done with it, both in terms of stuff from it mattering to future plots, and in terms of somehow never being able to go there again.

-Some features will be gutted. Crafting and loot will have something done, maybe removed, or maybe just learning better from Anthem/DA4. Vehicles may be removed, but at this point that seems almost silly to do with 2-3 ME games having vehicles and lots of other RPGs actually exploring vehicles/mounts *more*. I am certain they will dial back the open part of open world, but I'm sure they would have had that result in MEA as well, if they didn't bother with the procedural experiment.



The thing about MEA is that its a pretty solid *basis*. Its just that its not even realized within itself, let alone developed further with DLC and a sequel game 2-3 years later. But I'd rather Bioware work with that basis and have it come to better and more fulfilling conclusion before moving on. If this process needs to include nostalgia-bait Milky Way + a hankering to get to greater ME6 ambitions for the later 2020s, so be it. Just priority deal with Andromeda.

And I still think there's weird stuff going on with ME3 and its ending. And MEA, while it doesn't directly address this content *at all*, it does include some lore and plot that... eh... it makes me continue to wonder about ME3. So yeah, get on that. I'm not asking for a Reaperized Shepard after waking up from an Indoctrinated Dream or whatever, but that part of the game feels like just as much of a loose thread as MEA does more in general. I think a trilogy ended, but some sort of story didn't. Maybe that's just crazy me. But if I am even slightly right, well, make it happen.

I think its also time for squadmate homo male (not bi, not 'previous straight', not alien) human romance. Just the one time then I never pester about it again*. Out of the perhaps 6+ squadmates (I actually don't love 6 but enjoy ~8 and would take ~10 as long as Bio thinks they can handle it), I wouldn't mind 2 being human males for one game. This is somewhat case in ME2 if you can include the DLC (Jacob, Zaeed), and ME3 if you keep Kaidan (Kaidan, James), so hey.
*really at that point all I could ask to see once is a central character Liara-rank being of these qualities, but I'm not passionate enough to get active about it
This is clearly personal want, but its I think fitting with what I think Bioware thinks itself capable of.

I want more class definition. MEA was on a good direction with defining Profiles, but a lot of the character customization/advancement ultimately came off as messy. Hammer hard how - lets say we're Ryder still - SAM has evolved to the point of providing more superhuman expressions of class, while moving away from SAM's MEA emphasis of 'switching up' - something most of us rarely did and I'm not sure it'd be good to double down on that.

Do you think they're looking forward to have their failing and over-scrutinized studio create another Star Wars game after the BF2 fiasco? I think they're holding the IP far away from BioWare at this moment and besides SWTOR has been officially decanonized by Disney when they bought the IP

This is difficult because it's obvious that even we, as a fanbase, can't figure out what setting ME5 would best fit- whether in a practical and sensible setting (leaving MW for good and continuing on with Andromeda) or what we're craving for at our core (return to the MW). You can bet we won't see ME5 in years to come because likely the same issue is plaguing the developers at BioWare. It's a mess they made themselves, but nonetheless, a mess we all get to burden now because before it was a mess, it was a masterpiece we all shared.

That said, there's a vague sense of what we want: more Mass Effect. However, there's no unity on how to move forward. There's the logical ones naysaying, then there's the emotional ones that don't care and simply want something that will stop the hurt the last few five years have brought.

I personally don't think Andromeda made much sense to begin with and wish the Andromedan nightmare would simply just go away. I mean, hellooooo, only like 5% of the MW was explored at the time of Shepard. Why on earth are we using tech that shouldn't exist yet anyway to beam ourselves to Andromeda? Right, because BW truly did f*k up with ME3s ending. Okay, we get that. Many of us have moved on and with that, I still don't think we should run away from the MW with our tails between our legs because of it. ME3's endings are so totally salvageable. I can think of plenty of scenarios, one being the true existence of the reapers was to harvest life in order to fuel their attempt to stop dark matter from deteriorating the MW galaxy. It would certainly spin a different light on the reapers, but also give us options with the three endings players were stuck with on how to handle the dark matter. The enemy becomes a source of unspeakable raw nature. Nature simply just is. It has no motives. No plan. That's what makes it hard to fight. Like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes...a problem only true eternal beings could solve and conquer.

In short, I want ME5 back in the MW damnit. Announce Andromeda was a fun, nonbinding playful spoof if you have to. But make it work, BioWare. In the meantime, release a quicky or a DLC on the First Contact War. That would be hella epic.

The problem with that idea is that the harvest is so damn inefficient.

Good thread. Hopefully a small team is already brainstorming about the 5th game.

I've got it: instead of my original idea MEA2 starts off a few years after the first and blam! The Kett led by Primus lay waste to the colonies and we have brief missions on a few of our lost planets (Eos, a more habitable Voeld, and Elaaden) before having to cram everyone onto the human ark (souped up to go faster how convenient) to escape nexus destruction. We jump to a new cluster and are accepting our newly found nomad ways and we come in contact with a new species and go from there.

I want death! Destruction! Love! Lol.
Maybe my favorite companion Drack dies in the beginning. Augustus dies on Eos, Morda gets her head plate torn off by Kett, the Moshae is riddled with bullets! The Kett film and broadcast Efra being executed. Oh the...angaramanity!

You can tweak your Ryder with new custom options or create a new from scratch. Cora wears a black leather jacket and drives a space motorcycle. Reyes is in hiding aboard the Hyperion. Your mom is awake and grumpy. Your sibling is annoying. Your dad is still dead. Tada!

I think that there will definitely be another Mass Effect game because it's a popular franchise - less popular than many of us seem to think it is, but still popular nonetheless. However, I doubt that BioWare would start even preliminary work on another ME game for at least another 3 years, because the clusterfuck that was Andromeda won't be easily forgotten. So, as much as it pains me to type this, I reckon it'll be at least 2025 before we see a new Mass Effect. ^{Cries quietly in a corner}

As for premise: I think they'll want to distance it from MEA as much as possible. This could mean going back to the Milky Way, or it could mean sticking with Andromeda, but setting the game 20+ years later. If it were up to me (if you're reading this BioWare: I'm availabe, call me) I'd pick the latter; Colonies are flourishing, relations with the angara are great, the powers that be still don't know any more about the Jardaan and the kett are all but forgotten...until they come back. Now, it's been a while since I played Andromeda (it feels a bit watching an old family movie of someone who recently died suddenly - the wounds are still too fresh) but from what I remember, it's heavily implied that the kett's journey to Heleus was a long one that the kett themselves spent in stasis. I also remember that . I propose that those superiors send a fresh round of kett to finish what Archon didn't. The Ryder twins would appear in the game, but not as a protagonist; they'd be more of a mentor (a la Anderson) or a boss (a la Tann). Then the Jardaan show up.

True, but we're supposed to be getting books to tie that stuff up, and they're not going to put book events in-game. Whatever happens, I would be really astonished if BioWare went with a direct MEA sequel.