Mass Effect '5' speculation (Official Thread)

1) What are the possibilities that Mass Effect 5 will allow save transfers from ME3?
2) Do you think BioWare would go as far as making this cross-gen? Even now, newer games are cross gen. Hogwarts Legacy was recently released for PS4 & Xbox One. Assassin's Creed: Mirage will also be cross-gen.

1. Zero. BioWare isn’t using save transfers anymore. They’ll use something like the Dragon Age Keep or Mass Effect Archives instead.
2. Also zero. This is years away so by then will fully be XSX/S or PS5. Maybe with new consoles if those are out, but I think they’d still be wary since they couldn’t do all of DAI’s DLC on the past Gen.

You say they'll use the Archives, right? I remember there being several polls made in light of MELE's release. What if--and this might sound ridiculous--they decide to use the results for each poll as statistics for predetermined outcomes for ME5? For example, if majority players prefer to play male Shepard, then everyone refers to Shepard as male, even gorg players who prefer FemShep, like me.

The only thing Biower is going to cannonize is 15 years between games! 

Judging by the stuff we know so far ME5 will be set after the trilogy and Liara is in it with a possible biger time skip.

My theory on how they could continue the story is something similar to a cold war scenario. The war to end all wars has ended but that's said about a lot of wars, soon enough the politics and fighting will continue.
The galaxy is in poor shape and humans, turians and krogan run the council because they led the fight against the reapers and suffered the most casualties. Asari and Salarians lost their position of power and reputation because they joined late and in case of the asari withheld prothean tech so overall mistrust and hostilities have increased among the species.
Everyone is on edge. Krogan wanting to expand, the geth-quarian alliance is a new powerhouse, batarians are nice without the hegemony which makes everyone feel uncomfortable... Endless stuff for more talking and shooting.

And with a huge time skip the details of the reaper war are all a bit blurry and more of a myth by now. The reapers were either destroyed, or stuck around for a bit for repairs before vanishing or organics and synthetics understand each other better. All that can be addressed without to much altering the game or the state of the universe. So that takes care of the endings.

From the OT Liara (and maybe Grunt) would still be alive. And remember how Liara mindfuc**d Shepherd, which leaves the possibility open for a child. Could be interesting with all these expectations from being a Shepard - no pressure kid.

Anyway that's all. I just find the idea of a post reaper galaxy interesting with a lot of stories that are smaller in scale but more personal.

Any thoughts?

With the scope and expense of videogame development, you can not account for both a narrative where the Quarians and Geth made peace and started co-habitating before becoming martyred heroes, the Rachni still exist, the Krogan no longer carry the Genophage gene-modification and have progressive leaders... and a narrative where the Quarians went extinct in the skies of Rannoch and the Geth went extinct when the Reapers did, the Rachni are dead and the Krogan are crippled by both the Genophage and conservative leadership.

This particular comparison only accounts for High EMS Destroy and even here you can see how extremely difficult it would be to develop world states that respect all of the potential outcomes without making them so similar they are all but inconsequential.

Now add Synthesis giving society eons of otherwise lost knowledge, organics and synthetics having some metaphysical connection, and even the possibility of transcending death itself.

Or society being nearly annihilated by Low EMS Destroy and accounting for all of the above becomes farcical.

If ME4 is to be set long after ME3, I want no one, including the asrai, from the trilogy to be in the game. I don't care for t'soni. She's a character who can't be trusted, I would even go as far to say she is liar. And lastly, she can be dead. She can die in ME3 with the galaxy rebuilding just as it does with high ems.

I do see fights happening whether they're small or on a large scale. At least the reapers won't be around to interfere with their nonsense.

I like the idea of having a krogan on the council. More on that in a moment. I don'yt agree about the salarians. If anything they might get a harsh lecture. The asorry, I mean asari, are just a pathetic species. They proved they don't care about anyone. It started with them refusing to show up at the summit. Had Bioware made the game the way they originally wanted, I doubt I would be so critical of the asari. If you're wondering what I mean, Thessia was suppose to happen before the coup. Because of this, the asari are in truoble. What do you think the backlash would be if word got out about them withholding something that could have saved x number of lives? If anything, I would present the evidence to the council, or what's left of it to decide the asari's fate. I would at the very least remove the asari councilor. And that's where a krogan would replace the asari councilor.

The krogan will expand, but at a much slower rate than what they thought. The g/q alliance is a powerhouse? I would be curious how that would work. Batarians, or what's left of them, will likely do what they can to rebuild.

Details are a bit blurry? Like how the details have changed, it happened so long ago. Will the next game feature some guy telling a kid a story by changing the details to keep the kid interested?

If t'soni is in the game, it means a playthrough is invalid in ME3. I would rather have Grunt instead of t'soni.

If Bioware were to go this route, it tells me they want to throw the franchise in the garbage. It would be the end of ME. I would not buy the game. I would throw it in the garbage if someone gave me a free copy.

Before the teaser was released, I believed Shepard returning would not happen. After the teaser, and the other stuff released later, I now believe there is a chance Shepard might return. At the moment, I prefer having a new character though I would like Shepard to return. How could that happen? Simple. Here's one way.

Choices is a big concern for people. What to do about this, that, and the other thing? First off, it's a story told by a guy. I bet the story told to him is far different from what he told the kid.  The guy has changed his story once already. He can change it again.

Look at the genophage. My preference is not to cure. If Bioware were to choose it was cured, I wouldn't complain too much. If anything what could happen is the the genophage is cured, but the results are not what was expected. Because of the lack of time to do a full test, the birth rate is only 3,4 or 5 in 1000 instead of 1 in 1000.

With the geth and quarians, I prefer the geth going bye bye. If Bioware chooses peace, what could happen is in ME4, the geth slowly go back to what they were before getting the code. By the end of the game, they're back to what they were.

The other thing, and could be a big issue, if Shepard were to return, is crew and squadmates. Who will return? Which squadmates will be on the roster? Legion, Thane, Mordin, will not for obvious reasons though that could change depending on the details. Sadly Zaeed(RIP Robin Sachs) would not return. Jacob won't return because he wants to be a better father than his. Kasumi would go back doing her own thing. Grunt will stay on Tuchanka to rebuild Aralakh Company. He could be a temp squadmate if there's a mission on his planet. Samara would stay on Thessia to be with her remaining child. Vega would leave to help rebuild the N program then eventually get an N designation. Wrex would be watching over Tuchanka. I would have Miranda join the roster. Jack could though she might want to stay with her students. Garrus, t'soni, tali, would return. Javik. Not sure about him. the edibot would return, but back in hologram form. I left A/K for last. They are a spectre. It wouldn't make sense to have 2 spectres on the ship. Would the council have them doing some type of spectre mission? Unless it's another detail that changed.  The crew would likely remain the same. 

Years ago Gamble tweeted Bioware respects player choice. I never agreed with that. I still don't today. He says players choice. What is Bioware's choice? They might go with their own playthrough to put in choices that might have people frustrated.

Another is with 2027 not far off, would Bioware remake the trilogy? It would be 20 years since ME1. I'm assuming the next ME game will release in 2027. 

Well If Indoctrination theory becomes Canon, what within MET would be still canon? Should Someone put the Extreme Indoctrination Theory Meme while quoting me? should i annoy everyone with an thread talking What if Indoctrination Theory became Canon?

You get a like for this.

I just hope Shepard is dead and we are over it in ME5 or ME:Next.

Well Everyone should be able to be indoctrinated bye the Reaper either intentional or un-intentional.  Well How would players deal with them being indoctrinated?