Could Mass Effect 4 Take Place in the Next Cycle

Mass Effect 3′s 4th ending, “Refusal”, could be an absolutely amazing concept for a new game, and a new series in that direction would be unlike anything we have ever seen before.

[mcroddi]

I hear the next one has an all new cast and setting. So yeah.

[Speed-Racer]

Looks like it

[crxss]

Would love a mass effect in a future cycle. Definitely would not like it to take place in the past

[JhawkFootball06]

Would be an interesting concept.

[Blacktric]

"Mass Effect 3′s 4th ending, “Refusal”, could be an absolutely amazing concept for a new game, and a new series in that direction would be unlike anything we have ever seen before."

Bioware developers are not ballsy enough to go that route. They're most likely going to do a prequel to not stir things up. Although I'm expecting nothing short of Twilight grade writing mixed with forced action based gameplay at this point.

[tokugawa]

perhaps it will be the war with the humans had with the turians when they first discovered the mass relays

[TekoIie]

Could work well. The real challenge is making a familiar enemy feel as fresh and new as it did in Mass Effect 1.

Either way I look forward to the next Mass Effect.

[My_Outer_Heaven]

Then again some characters could return because they live for thousands of years like the Asari.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

Wrex could still be alive too.

[ArthurJKlarke]

No.
Do you know how long apart cycles are?

100,000 to a million years.

[DOMination-]

A cycle is roughly 50, 000 years. The Thorian might still be alive ;)

[PSVita]

There's is no more cycle

[IanVanCheese]

Doubtful, they'd never make an ending canon. I wrote a piece about this a few weeks back, I see a side-quel as the most likely option.

[Foxgod]

As long as it features artificial camel toe!

[dcj0524]

Yum

[LAWSON72]

I want the next one to take place in the past during some important time period or event. Supposedly the keepers used to be an advanced race that was wiped out by the reapers like the protheans and were transformed by the reapers to take care of the citadel. Imagine going to the past and witnessing the keepers before they were wiped out and changed. The history of ME is so rich with potential, they could even make it take place during the rachni wars and genophage, or even during the time when the protheans were at their prime

[Wni0]

how bout prequel, and have less fighting, more talking / quests.

[Lucreto]

I would like a new trilogy where it starts as a prequel but ends up a sequel.

A new ship somehow gets sent to another Galaxy etc etc and when they get back to the Milky Way in the third game they have to fix whatever choice you made in ME3.

[DOMination-]

Thats a creative idea actually

[AsheXII]

That would be a little repetitive. The reapers saga is over, Shepard succeeded, lets end it at that.

[wedgie]

I agree. I would like a new villian/galactic threat that is not the Reapers. Maybe some new undiscovered alien, etc.? I don't know for sure.

Doesn't even have to be a galactic menace. Maybe just Spectre missions, and a more personal tale?

I also know that I would prefer something set after the original series. It could be 10 years or 1,000 years later, but something later. If it were going to be a prequel, I feel like it would just be fighting the reaper threat all over again. And we all know (roughly haha) how that ends.

[PSVita]

I agree^^^

We also have to remember Shepards still around in some digitized god like form probably so even if they set it 1000s of years later he might still be a part of future games in some way.

[DOMination-]

Not if you destroy.. which is the most likely canon ending bw would go for imo.

[Pintheshadows]

I like the idea of it starting directly after the revised end of ME3 with the races stranded in our solar system and trying to rebuild the relays with tensions growing as they try to live together. I want to see the aftermath and begin a new story from there. I'd happily have the crew of the Normandy as characters but not as party members.

I'd pick a new character but let us choose the race. I'd love to play as a Salarian with an STG background for example who then gets made an honorary SPECTRE due to desperate times. Once the relays are in a working state it is your task to effectively repair the galaxy that the Reapers have ripped apart.

Show that Shepard helped but didn't solve the galaxies problems and all of the races are now their own greatest enemies.

I'd also like genuine control of an all new ship. I mean crossing Mass Effect with Freespace or X so the galaxy is genuinely explorable and we get real space combat. I'd love that. I've been wanting a game like that for years. Think Freelancer but bigger and better.

[Mr-Dude]

Maybe a war with the ones who actually created the reapers? It's never discovered in the trilogy so...

[wedgie]

Play the Leviathan DLC, they explain it.

[JunioRS101]

I'd like to play as a different species this time around, or maybe have a choice of different species.

[Ogygian]

I wouldn't mind having a choice, but I'd be worried this would drastically reduce story content, as they'd have to make everything much more generic (unlike Dragon Age, where there is less difference between each playable species).
I also don't see playing an alien as fun as might appear. Players (I know I would) would have a lot of trouble empathising with the PC if they don't have a humanoid face. I could see Asari playable (for female gamers), but the only real option for those who want to play men is the human race.

[AceBlazer13]

I would love to play as a turian they look so elite and badass

[Pintheshadows]

Salarian for me. I'd have no problem empathising with any of the races are they are so richly created and characterful. That is Mass Effects biggest strength as far as I am concerned.

[Ogygian]

Yeah, but if they were going to do that, why bother making it a mass effect universe game rather than a new series? If they were going to do that, they'd pretend it was a new IP and surprise us, as literally nothing would be carried over. That, and the universe would be too weird.

It'll most likely happen at the same time as ME1-3, though I'd like it personally if they made the two endings which everyone chose (control and destroy) canon, where both lead to the same situation a hundred years or so after 3.

I don't see the series moving forward unless it makes the good endings canon and lets us know how exactly the galaxy recovers after being isolated.
Think of the real world today - if all countries had trade cut off, they'd encounter huge internal issues as a result of a collapse in trade. Food producing countries are fine, but others which produce luxuries suddenly face starvation.
We left the galaxy in an utter mess after 3, and it would be nice to try and clean it up.

[Pintheshadows]

That is my thought exactly but i'd actually set it only months after 3 to see the chaos all of those alien races effectively stranded on Earth causes. It also makes sense to then have a choice of races. They work together to Jerry rig a relay and find the other races attempting to do the same but the galaxy is in total chaos. Just like the Reapers said it would be.

[Ogygian]

I see your point actually, about seeing the chaos on Earth after 3.
What I think would be interesting would be a game set among that chaos on Earth followed by a game where you play as your son/daughter/grandson/granddau ghter being the captain first ship to leave the planet using a ship-based mass relay (perhaps the raw material used is super rare and located deep in some obscure region of the world) and make contact with the races long forgotten.
I would be awesome visiting world after world seeing how chaos has ensued elsewhere (after controlling that on Earth in the aftermath of 3).

[Monkeysmarts]

I've nearly lost faith in BioWare to take Mass Effect in a good direction. After seeing how little your choices throughout the trilogy actually impacted the ending when that was the big draw, it was kind of disappointing. I enjoyed all three games individually, but I refuse to get worked up over the new one. I'll play it, but I doubt it will be impressive... BioWare just isn't the same anymore.

Don't tout freedom of choice impacting the game and then give us only 2 good/bad endings that really don't take any of your actions into account. The ending sequences of ME2 were brilliantly executed... ME3's conclusion was like the last 2 movies of The Matrix trilogy, though. Convoluted and uninteresting.

[TheEvilWithin]

I just read the new Dark Horse comic which is a lead up to the new game and if what I read makes any sense to me (granted it is only the first issue) it sounds like it might be a prequel. (Not going to spoil anything for anyone)

[Iltapalanyymi]

I would really like to hear something more about ME4. Please bioware show it off at gamescom or something.

[Pintheshadows]

I doubt it. I think they will be heavily pushing DA Inquisition and won't show the new Mass Effect until DA Inquisition is out of the door.

[Tctczach]

If they do go into the past(and I hope they don't) I want to see the Krogan wars. I want to see them at their full power before the genophage.

[medman]

Your head is huge. See a doctor. It might be a tumor after all.

[Tctczach]

If only I was Arnold Schwarzenegger...

[medman]

I was going to ask you why you are here on this forum and not tending to the needs of your illegitimate children, but I didn't want your head to grow any larger.

[LiarasBoobs]

IMO I'd like a prequel.

[Shoul]

I hope so!