Should the next Mass Effect game be linear, or open world?

I voted linear with open world elements. But not maybe not quite as linear and a bit more open than ME1. I actually like wandering the open world, but I'd also like to see some of the tight-space combat come back.

I like the overall open world-ness of MEA.

I think there was enough linear content with combat taking place in smaller confines to be the best of both worlds for me.

Something like Uncharted 4 would suit perfectly in a new generation Mass Effect game I think. Linear but with the illusion of a large area

I'd say a middle ground. Certainly slightly more linear than ME:A but not as much as ME2 and ME3.

I still believe ME1 hit the right balance between exploration and questing. Though if it is a black or white situation then I prefer open world to linear games anydays. I don't want ME2 and ME3 shooting galleries.

Openworldish

Make smaller maps with more meaningful content. Maps like Havarl were the perfect size, maps like Voeld are waay too big.

It doesn't matter.

What matters is who is going to make it. If it's the same people that made Andromeda, it might be open world, linear, bilinear, trilinear or any permutation of these, it's going to suck.

Very insightful comment. I'm sure you're really great at providing feedback. The word "suck" is really going to help BW taking our comments in account and hopefully deliver a better product and patching the issues on what was released.

I still want one or two maps large enough for me to enjoy driving the Nomad around. Even if they add a world similar to the low gravity world which I spent a couple hours jump driving around and jumping over the chasm.

I voted linear like ME2. Because as ive said previously on this matter...

My main issue is that Bioware's interpretation of open world is just so cookie cutter, repetitive and dull. Devoid of any vision. This quantity over quality approach with rubbish fetch quests galore and streamlined MMO grindy game scructure & automated game mechanics etc is all very off putting. Sadly they seem wedded to this. So thats why i voted: Give me corridors with hubs... Hubs that are extremely atmospheric, colourful, complete with excellent world building, places where you can really feel that your right there, right in heart of some of those unknown planets and places in the far reaches of the galaxy, or inside an alien ship or a normal outpost. I want the universe to feel much more exspansive and alive, lived in etc and for the most part that is only brought about as a result of such a tighter focused game design. Something not found in ME:A... A game about large maps, open worlds and exploration etc and whilst that sounds good, the game it just doesnt do a good job at any of those things imo. I feel like thats the downside to open world, you have to make too many sacrifices & compromises in so many other aspects to make an open world possible. And too often the final results simply arent worth it.

But in contrast to that take Illium, Omega's streets, ME2's Citedel, the collector ship, the quarian floatilla, the geth dreadnought, Kasumi's Stolen Memory/Beckenstein, The Layer of the Shadowbroker, all the N7 anomaly missions etc... Not huge open worlds, but lot of ambience, variety, depth, context, meaningful details and still big enough to explore, fight there, run, cover, use powers, and decisions. Thats plenty big enough imo.

I mean these smaller maps or corridors can still be filled with content, not so big a level, but more than big enough where every detail matters, meaninguful decisions and the perfect ambience and environment. No open worlds but small to medium maps dripping in atmosphere, compact with lotsa detail and big enough that you can still explore. You really dont need the game to be a huge open world for it to be great.

I think the problem generally with huge open worlds is that more often than not they are just not interesting to begin with. The bigger something gets often the emptyier & directionless it becomes, the thinner the content is spread etc and as a result of this to combat it devs just put a ton of copy paste, shallow crap in to fill it out(as its easier, quicker and cheaper) etc.. But you loose the detail and intricacy in going for this huge scope. Its very, very rare that you can go big & open and retain the atmosphere and detail of a smaller dense map. Bioware dont have the talent to do that imo(if they did, honestly i wouldnt have a problem with open world). So continueing with these huge worlds is not a good thing for Mass Effect.

Ultimately for me something that is wide as ocean but deep as puddle is not enjoyable. And as they've failed for the last two games with this (bad)formula, if this is the best they can do regarding open world, then its time for Bioware to stop making games which dont play to their strengths. I think they just need to get off this open world bandwagon and get back to their bread & butter.

With two "open" games under their belt now, it's time for Bioware to start to work on scale, imo. Their environments are unquestionably beautiful, but DAI suffered from a certain shallowness and emptiness; on the other hand, Andromeda is stuffed to the brim with superfluous quests that are overwhelming in the beginning and somewhat tedious by the end. They just need to work out a balance between the scope of their ambitions and the imperative of the content they put inside of the spaces they create.

Open world but done in a way that serves the narrative. What i mean is say each planet has a focused story that somehow ties into the main narrative(and playes more like a main story mission rather than a bunch of minor quests) and if you choose to explore that planet you can find additional side content that feeds the planets story. For instance you might uncover an enemy base that has intel on whatever McGuffin you're chasing. Or maybe a prisoner that has their own side quest/reason for coming there, freeing/completing their quest will cause them to turn up and help during a later part of the story like during a boss fight or opening up an alternative path.

That would feel meaningful, filling up an arbitrary bar that does in noway affect the story or game play does not feel meaningful.

As it is now it's easy to get stuck in a swamp of waypoints, there is very little exploring going on in the game. I feel like they just chucked an assload of quests into every planet just to fill them with content just because rather than making an openworld experience that plays to Biowares strength, just as they did win DA:I.

Linear but with some open world elements. Not every RPG needs to be Skyrim, and Bioware's strong suit has always been the characters populating their game worlds  rather than the game world itself.

Bioware has now had two attempts at fully open world games and both have been plagued by similar problems that in some ways made them less enjoyable than some of the games that preceded them. Both DA:I and ME:A suffer from having a good deal of boring side content that exists only to fill the large open spaces the devs created. While ME:A isn't quite as bad as DA:I in that regard, it does have some long stretches that feel like DA:I in space. Loyalty missions are quite well done, but the quests given at settlements? Not so much. Too many collect three of this and scan 5 of that quests.

I'd rather Bioware reduced the size of its open world maps and went with a design philosophy that prioritized quality over quantity. I'd much rather play a game that took 50 or 60 hours to complete but was exciting the whole way through, than play through 100 or more hours of a game that had long dull stretches between it's great moments. Unfortunately I think Bioware and a lot of other devs in this era, are stuck in a mindset that bigger is always better. Both DAI and ME:A would have been better games if the scale was reduced and more development time and resources focused on making the content within the game world engaging.