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There may not be a dilemma. Shepard was brought back from being dead. Essentially his body was only a few years old and our hearts do not determine how fast, or slow, we age.
I love all the little snippets they've dropped but my biggest complaint is that I think they are hyping us up far too early before the game releases. Especially if one looks at the DA release timeline
I guess it also depends, Mass Effect: Continued, will be on Unreal which definitely will make it slightly more quicker compared to Dreadwolf which is being a retooled live-service frostbite engine game. The bigger issue is the gaming crash, and EA cutting stuff already.
I agree that they shouldn't have teased us in 2020 but DA went through multiple reboots and Covid. I doubt that ME will have as bad of a dev cycle as Dreadwolf. That being said, if Dreadwolf launches this year, I don't see ME5 coming till 2027 at a minimum. It's been in preproduction for 3+ years so I expect that the story/characters/concept art are/nearly finished but 3 years is basically the minimum development cycle for a AAA game.
I don’t think it is them hyping the fans up so much as us hyping ourself up. We literally only have an announcement they are doing it and a single unnamed cool looking character. The fandom is doing all the overhyping work from there.
@@randomlyentertaining8287 I agree with you, but the problem is that the ME story is entirely about Shepard and and their found family of space misfits as they adventure through space. The franchise is popular because of these characters; MEA failed almost explicitly because nobody could be bothered to give a shit about the characters and the story by extension Making another game without Shepard and co. would be like making a Scooby Doo tv show without Scooby, and we all know how well _that_ turned out. Is this all to say that a mass effect can’t happen without Shepard and friends? No, but it means the BioWare devs are going to have to work twice as hard on character creation alone if they want this game to be successful. I wouldn’t mind if they brought a new cast, but I’d be nervous as hell considering how Andromeda turned out.
I think Shepard will be, as they need to boost the popularity of the series. The fact that EA will just tell them "Do what you want, but this game needs to be successful" might push them to that decision.
I wish that we could play as Shepards kid, either biological (asari or human) or adopted (other races). Like that we could play other species and we would avoid reusing Shepard while being able to keep the conection. Perhaps make Shep a mentor figure, like Anderson in ME1. Lets us choose species and who was the other parent (any LI or none)
@@anvime739 I got the same idea when I was thinking about what scenario would satisfy most of the fans. Having Shepard and not at the same time but getting closure either way, passing the torch, choosing species but not complicate things (for the developers) over very different backgrounds. But the kid will have to have their own identity (not just being Shepard in another skin). Another growing into the shoes story like Ryder's? Instead of Pre-service History there'd be Shep's LI, instead of Psychological Profile there'd be the species. But then if the kid is an asari you have to have biotics which brings up problems: 1. you can only choose adept, vanguard, sentinel or explorer; 2. use the profile system from MEA, but then how do you justify jumping between classes without SAM? Also, it won't work for possible newcoming fans who have no idea about Shepard's love interests... You have to take into consideration that for a franchise to thrive in the long-term it needs to bring in new blood. You can't make a game only for the already existing fans. At first, I was so happy about myself that oh, I solved it! But then I realised that no, I might've just created even more problems... So, I threw it out he airlock. Personally, I'd rather play as Ryder again to continue her/his hero's journey.
I agree. Making mass effect without Shepard is risky. Making it with Shepard is a sure slammed dunk success. And I dont think Bioware are in a good place to take risks with a new protag. After this one maybe.
@@anvime739 Mentor, maybe. Kid? Nah. Shepard as PC, or something totally new. But Shepard is waybsafer for Bioware. Shepard on the cover will sell copies. And we all know EA want to do that
Honestly, I just want to see Shepard with their love interest live their lives together post reaper war. Of course, before any of that happens, Shepard could have one more story left in them, and this way, they (the writers) can finally be do what they should've back in 2012 (not trying to blame the writers. They did what they could.) and give Shepard the ending they deserve and give Shepard the final send-off.
That's usually how Bioware does things. My guess is they'll let you import your saves from the legendary edition but they'd have to make the alternate ending be the actual storyline. That would require an update to the legendary edition though to make Commander Shepard live. It's almost impossible on legendary edition.
@@matthewwilder5164I found it far easier to get Shepard to live in the legendary edition. In the original you had to play the online combat maps. In LE, as long as you do every single mission and side mission and scan everything, you easily get the war assets needed to live.
I'd prefer if Shepard comes back, especially as the main character, however I can see why they might choose someone diffrent. The problem is, I don't want Shepard to be dead. I go through the hassle of getting 7400+ War Assets everytime to get the "Shepard lives" ending. If there is some story (be it main character, NPC, a news article for all I care) about Shepard being alive (and living happily) that would make the game so much better. I don't want the hero that I followed through years of turmoil and war to end up dead, I want a happy ending.
I totally agree with you. What’s the point of him living at the end and not putting him in the game? Although I would like Shepard to be a main character and not easter egg in some codex or mentioned in random conversation
I think Shepherd deserves some rest. While I absolutely want them to return, in an important role no less, I do not want them on the front line. I want the burnout and problems they had in the later parts of the games to remain with them. And coming to terms with them no longer being the badest of badasses but instead a mentor or having the same role as Andersson did in the original trilogy.
I think it's probably unlikely, because of the effort involved, but I see two possibilities for how to make Shepard return as the protagonist. 1: Have a Dragon Age: Inquisition type setup, where you can "create" your world by determining all the decisions you did/could've made throughout the previous games. Who survived, who died, who helped you, what choice you made. If you made the correct choices for Shepard to survive at the "True" ending, you can have the option to play as Shepard or as a new protagonist, which would have influences on the story progression. 2: Some way, some how, Clone Shepard survives/returns and we play as him, instead of the original. It could be the same clone we fought against, or a different clone.
I think after the game comes out there'll be a lot of people talking about how misleading the trailers were and it'll be explained away by the devs as they always are in this situation. The game is *still* in pre-production (lol) so I don't think we should be expecting a teaser trailer from 4 years ago to be necessarily representative of the story when this game finally comes out. I'd love to have Shepard back. But whoever we get needs to display the traits that heroes have had since literally the first written story in history. There's a reason these kinds of characters have resonated with audiences for thousands of years. Andromeda, by moving away from that to try to embrace a "new kind of hero for a different generation", missed the mark entirely.
I don't think the overarching story or characters should be dismissed simply because it's pre production. Laying out the basic plot and characters you play as is the sort of thing that's covered in preproduction
TBH I don't need or even want Shepard to be the main caracter again, but we all need that main caracter to have an emotional link to Shepard (family, adopted, trainee, whichever), and we need to see Shepard and the first trilogy love interest live their lives together.
Even if Shepard is not in the game at all, it would be impossible to not mention Shepard all the time, not only in lore, but by companions, Liara especially. So either Shepard would be in the game at least as a character, or they would be a presence in the game. It would be weird otherwise, forced separation from Shepard, like we don't talk about them? It is how it is, branding. There is no Mass Effect game without Shepard somehow in it.
He or she will no doubt be revered as space jesus for a very long time, I wouldn't be surprised if there's gonna be a galactic religion revolving around him since Shep did the impossible several times, and is responsble for "activiating" the crucible killing all the Reapers.
Seeing as Shephard lived in a galaxy exclusively filled with incompetent crayon eaters who defy all reasoning with the fact any of them can put their own armour on without Shepard helping, I'd say they'll definitely remember him/her. The competence of Shep compared to the billions of other aliens would be akin to the cavealiens who worshipped Leviathan
@@CmdrVictory He/She was already revered quite a lot in ME2 and especially 3, no doubt there's going to be some sort of evil cult side quest (would be perfectly funny if the leader was Conrad)
I guess the only problem with main character aliens would be adjusting their height and hand animations, like Turian, Salarian and Quarians But this is perfectly possible with Asari, Batarian and perhaps Geth too (i saw someone mod Legion's model into Shepard and most animations fits quite well) Other than that, yes, please BioWare, give us playable aliens and please give us a Batarian squadmate
@@Cappuccino_Rabbit oh no yeah, I understand, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind waiting for them to make those adjustments (It’s been my dream forever to get to play a Turian)
@@PALADINKILLIAN-1403 but why, tho? We already had playable races in the multiplayer for ME3 and Andromeda. All they would have to do is make the playable models for me5, and animate them in cutscenes as well. Now, Im not saying that would be easy, but I wouldn’t mind waiting for them to properly integrate them into the singleplayer
So it's Mass Effect 2 except it's Liara who restores the body? With the recent confirmation of the return of the Geth, this is starting to give me vibes of early scripts of Mass Effect 2 where Legion was one of the first squads to meet Shepard
@@zaragachizanparo4948 yeah the fact that I find Mass Effect 3 enjoyable after installing the happy ending mod and the Epilogue mod doesn't inspire me. Andromeda is boring to me. I tried to play it but the story is weak. Bioware's best days are behind them. The saddest thing is Larian and Bioware were founded at about the same time. Yet Bioware is pretty much defunct due to EA. We now see the reasoning as to why it's so important for Devs to remain as independent as possible.
@@CuteGallifreyian Plus the good ol' Mass Effect, Bioware creators/team are working on a new game called: Exodus. And I'm pretty sure this Mass Effect 4 is for a reason here, now. 14 years later. Because I think they are a little worried about them. I'm a huge fan of Mass Effect but I had a little strange feeling at Mass Effect 3 already that something is not right. I really wish that Mass Effect 4 will be good but I have serious doubts nowadays especially when it comes to EA or other money grab games.
@@Sam-pr9rr A good journey can still be ruined by a garbage destination. Imagine if One Piece ended where it turned out there was no treasure(mark my words if this turns out to be true). All that great journey winds up being completely pointless. The reverse problem is also possible where the journey is trash but the ending is cool. It's still a problem either way. Either the journey was pointless or the ending was unearned.
this is what i was thinking. cryogenics, etc... and shepherd is discovered when the galaxy needs him again the most. a captain america type character. this is the best way to continue the character.
@@ericaugust1501 No, no the fuck it's not! It would be better to simply kill Shepard off than force them and the player into such a terrible situation.
I think first date makes more sense, just couple years after ME3. That way they can still bring back a lot of familiar characters to the game. But I also like the theory that the Normandy's engine gets destroyed and they are running out of air so they are forced to go into cryo-sleep until someone finds them again. That way the whole team can "travel in time" to any point in the future.
this makes sense because its imposible to see angara and garrus in 1 pic because turrians live like humans cca 150 max so with this it would be possible and Shepard in cryo sleep because of injuries then he wakes up healed and goes to find normandy and everyone else just frozen.
1.Control ending and/or Geth saved Shepard's consciousness and that's a synth Shepard. 2.Andromeda has a Dyson Sphere and nanotech that builds machines with thought.
I think that person we saw in the teaser is not Shepard its someone else investigating with a new team with Wrex Grunt Liara. And they just happen to find parts of Shepard armor along the way.
My original theory was that Shepard was simply injured beyond saving by technology at the time and Liara, unable to accept that, put them in cryostasis until they could be saved. My current theory is that it wasn’t just usual damage but something unique that happened to Shepard. Something to do with Reaper tech, which still led to them being put into stasis (or even darker as a test subject by others instead of liara using it to save them). My reasoning for this is that it would explain how Shepard could have abilities like Rider did in Andromeda. The gameplay element was the best improvement made in that game and I don’t think they’ll abandon that. I think that they get thawed because they can finally save them or either Liara discovers them if the darker test subject theory is proven.
I think we need at least one more game with the Normandy crew,as a proper sendoff. Besides,I want to see the perfect destroy ending actually lead to my Shep reuniting with Tali in-game,not just assume that it happens.
What if Shepard was found at the destroy ending but was so badly injured that there wasn't the technology to heal Shepherd immediately without spending absurd amounts of money like Cerberus... So instead Shepherd was frozen for who knows how long until Shepherd could be more easily healed... This way shepherd would be learning about this new era at the same time as us...
Nah, horrible idea. That means every character from the trilogy except for Liara and maybe Grunt and Wrex, would be gone. Absolutely nobody wants that. If they went for that, it would've been better if Shepard stayed dead.
There is an easy solution to this for me. Shepard is either alive or dead depending on the individual ME3 ending, but you don't necessarily play as him. If he's alive, you interact with him as a superior and/or friend, similar to how captain Anderson was or even Hacket. Or even that you're a companion on his team and he's a non-playable lead character. If he died for you in ME3, that person is someone else (maybe someone from the crew, maybe someone entirely different) Also if he's alive, there is a bonus mission or two (or a DLC) where you play as Shepard. This could be Shepard from the past, immediately after the end of ME3, or in some other context. I think this method does a good job in satisfying either camp. If you want him to be alive, this gives you closure, and if you want him dead, he's dead.
100% agreed. Even better if you are not part of his crew (to avoid the "one-up" the other situation), but still a background caracter, and Ideally have 1 or 2 level where you can play as him. I think the best solution would be to play as Shepard's child with the original trilogy's love interest (in case of alien, either human clone with some of the love interest DNA mixed in where compatible, or an adopted orphan after the Reaper War). It's also a perfect pretext to bring back the rest of the crew, even if some are likely too old for field work : - Aunt Tali - Uncle Urdnot - Grunt (who's like a brother somehow) - Sir Vakarian (who's the CO of your ship, under Shepard's request) - God-mother Miranda - God-father Moreau (also call Sir Moreau, head of the Alliance flight academy) - Jackie - Commander Vega etc
Yep, that's the most likely scenario. DA was rebooted so many times, so much production issues, changing of directors and stuff, none of the old writers. The chances of it being decent are less then 1%.
Knowing BioWare's usual development method for their games, they're probably taking as long as they are because they're still trying to figure out what they're even gonna do. These cryptic teasers are probably just to buy them more time as well as potentially let the theorists come up with a story for them. That's just my theory given their BioWare-MagicTM track record. As you can tell, I'm keeping my expectations EXTREMELY LOW. Not just because of Anthem & Andromeda, but also because this game is going to be continuing off of Mass Effect 3's dumpster fire of an ending. And I can't imagine anything resembling a good story coming from that.
I can buy into this, given that Flemeth was meant to be just this really old, and maybe slightly evil, abomination and it turns out she's one of the original elven "gods" known as Mythal. That's a fan theory that got put into action because it was so juicy. And it fuckin' works too.
With the success of the Legendary Edition...the safest bet for EA is to bring Commander Sheppard back. Making Destory Canon. It's the easy out for them. It'll be easy money.
But then why is there Geth ? The Catalyst made it perfectly clear all synthetic life would be destroyed. That means no Reapers no Geth no EDI but you clearly see Geth. All of the existing synthetic life would be destroyed. That means no Geth after the destroy option the catalyst made it perfectly clear.
But not everyone chose destroy. Bioware tried to take into account player choices already and still anger some people when a sexual releases. Them canonizing one of the ME 3 endings wouldn't be easy money, it would lead to mass gamer outrage.
@@channel45853 Exactly you can't have your game franchise be. All every single one of your choices changes something in some way. Permanently in that in game world/universe wich gives that in game universe. Countless possible outcomes an possibilities. Then all of a sudden go remember all those choices you made that effected the first 3 games. Well now they don't matter or count because here's how it all really happened. That kind of story telling only works in games like Halo because it's a set story. Based game from start to finish you can't do that with how they set up the Mess Effect games from the start. You can't go from every single decision you make matters to the story plot. To a planned out story plot because it would go against all the players choices. Starting with ME 1 if they go that route an it looks like they did. Because it shows a dead Reaper because I go with the blue control ending 99 present of the time the other 1 percent is the green symphysis ending. So that would mean no dead Reapers going this route will only piss people off. It already has me giving the new game a pass.
Yeah, tbh I'd be fine even with Shepard as some sort of side character. The lack of closure in ME3 was disappointing and I hope we get some in the new game.
@@lmaciulevicius if we go that far, Shepard could be like Anderson was for us, a living legend who is always there to give advice and save our ass when shit got real bad
@@alisontiger10that’s what I would like to see of the game does take place 71 years after me3 then Shepard is only 103 and the cannon age for humans in this universe is 150. That being I would like to see Shepard and garrus have the role Anderson and hacket had in me3
Tali was canon romance and killing all machines was the canon ending prove me wrong, we still need to see Shepard and tali getting married or some sh!t my childhood memories of mass effect can’t just end with 3 it’s painful
Hello my squad members. In ME2 the greybox. You can keep or destroy. The did say if this information ever got out. The Alliance could be destroyed. I never thought about it. But could mean something a secret mission
It's all obvious. Shepard's consciousness has been uploaded to the Geth (which we know is possible). The Jardaan are the baddies as evidenced by the picture of their tech from the teaser images. The character we saw in the trailer is Shepard in his / her new "body". Remember this day when the game is released and you see how wrong I was. ;)
That's actually a great idea, a N7 Operative who's been told countless stories about Shepard, some details may be true, others might be exaggerrated stuff like urban legends it also gives room for the player to pick which choices they did in the trilogy at the start of the game
Very nice, i rather have that than someone completely new or Rider. A kid that wishes to be like his hero and in the process of achieving that he or she becomes a better version of thenselfs (or worse depending on your choices)
I would like to see Shepard return, continue and finish all the romances and whatnot, we didnt really get a conclusive endings to them because of the situation we were in and all that, and I dont think that conjuring one more story with Shepard and the team in the driving seat would be all that hard, continuing to connect it to Andromeda and set up a sequel to that would also serve well in boosting Andromeda as well. With that being said, I dont think they will do it, it would automatically create pretty high expectations in regards to acknowledging all the player decisions and such which would strain the development right off the bat, tho, if they do choose to go that way, they have ways of getting around a lot of it, many people would be dead after all. I dont know, its hard to guess and Im not even sure what I would prefer to be honest, tho if Liara does come back as a companion she better not be romanceable by a new protagonist, I dont care how many years have passed she and Shepard were soulmates.
Interesting theory, and I wouldn't mind that timeline, but I do think at some point if Mass Effect if going to survive, they have to figure out a way to have a new protagonist that works.
Theory, humanity was devistated by the reapers. When Shepard destroyed them a massive collection of reaper tech remained on earth. Humanity is the enemy of the new game. Having mastered reaper tech and traversing the stars again they start dominating the galaxy. Hence why liara and the council are so concerned about humanity
what mass effect 4 must be acomplish no matther what the story is, is too give us an satisfing end of shepard, a conclusion we can aceept and life on with. that was the main flaw of the 3 mass effect games because they didn`t give us and ending that is worth it, so we can close up shepards story. shepards story is not finished at all, we just left the scene in a very bad way. i don`t say it must be an perfect ending where everyone lifes happily after, but an end so we can close the file of shepard with an smile on the face, not with tears in our eyes and a broken heart. that is what mass effect 4 must acomplish, and if i look around in western games and bioware today, i sadly don`t see that happening at all. and remember if you want too please everyone you end up pleasing nowone. when i think about that stuff as a whole i can`t imagine such an story with such good characters in western games today. reason is in the western gaming industry and in western media today politics are pushed down our throats with as much force as possible if we want it or not they don`t care at all. politics before story and characters is what matters most for them today if we like it or not. and ea + bioware are just the same. so i fear for the day mass effect 4 will be released because of that and even so i fear for dragon age dreadwolf. western game developers prove again and again that they can`t, not able too anymore and won`t do a good story and good characters anymore because they must push political agendas first above anyhting else. sry but that is the current state of western games and medias, i don`t and can`t see an escape route here from it. on top of that, that bioware and ea are us companys makes this even worse. i can imagine such an story today only from japanese developers and i`am not even joking sadly.
It seems very simple to me: Mass Effect 5 comes after Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect 4: Andromeda. That explains angara as well as Liara, who is very young in Mass Effect 1, so in Mass Effect 5 she could be another matriarch. Liara is also heard in Mass Effect 4 in one of Alec Ryder´s secrets. Storyline probably contains something about perfect Destroy ending and how it influenced the geth. There is a very strong possibility, that the geth with a Reaper code were not destroyded. Why? Because geth could be newly truly alive which was Legion´s dream. Reapers were more than robots, they were synthetic-organic race. In both perfect endings for geth-quarian war geth keep their Reaper code, which made their processing signal improved into fully advanced self aware AI. Reaper code, that is something to take a notice. In the Synthesis ending all creatures (organic and non organic) get similar code which makes them a part of both. And what about the crew in Mass Effect 5? The main character is probably Liara, she is seen in trailer, heard in Mass Effect 4, she cannot die in Mass Effect trilogy (all 4 ,,good" endings), the N7 trailer shows female N7 agent... There is still place for some characters from Mass Effect 4 and two of them could be Ryder siblings. And someone other than Liara from Mass Effect trilogy, who can also survive 600 years thereafter? One character can: Legion. But he is dead or not? Captain Allen from Detroit: Become Human was also surprised meeting robotic android Connor on the roof after he was destroyed saying: "I thought you were dead...", and Connor answered: "Androids don´t die, captain". Legion as very important and familiar character in the geth plot... Only question is whether Legion could be a member of the team or the final boss??? Geth with Reaper code could continue Reaper legacy if not their very existence. Think about it: Reapers were not destroyed, only deactivated. In the Horizon: Zero Dawn the whole swarm of machines, that took control over Earth and destroyed all life in the past were in one point deactivated by the subordinate function MINERVA, but few centuries after the whole swarm, which looked like derelict and harmless, was almost restored by the subordinate function HADES. Reapers could be retrurned... Besides Legion could try to assume control over unknown Reaper technology... Geth in Mass Effect 5, not destroyed, Reaper code, Legion, how it could be possible? It could and not even Shepard died in Mass Effect 2 (and Mass Effect 3). And revive a human is not so likely, but restore a robot? Quite probably... So the geth in the Mass Effect 5 poster? Certainly Legion.
I guess it is very possible that Shepard will come back. 1: Time is not a linear thing and why shouldn't a way exists to travel to a point in the univerese which is in the future? If you have played ME:A you may get an Idea how it will work. The Geth made a possible to get data from the planets in Andromeda which are not over 600 years old. I believe that the geth will have a solution for that. And 2: the benefactor! He/She is the unknown but I get this feeling that it was the Illusive man. That is the reason why Cerberus will still play a big part in the next game. I believe that Cerberus know what is going on in both galaxys. And 3: the relict tec! Meridian showed us what could be possible and with the fear of the scourge, which is dark energy what causes also problems in the milky way I really believe that everything is possible in the next game! I believe that the dark energy (Scourge) will be the real big problem in the next game and both galaxys need to work together and i'm sure they will find a way. With the rel tec and the Geth they have everything they need! Ohh and don't forget SAM!
Considering cryo tech is well know in this universe, it could be as simple as "we put a large portion of the galaxy population into cryo until we could recover enoght to feed them, Shepard and his team included". BAM you wake up 1000 years later like in Futurama. But to be fair, ill agree with what many people say here, we dont need to play as Shepard, Shepard could easily take Hackett and Anderson role just give us closure on his story and his LI, thats all we need.
I think the MC should be Shepard's kids. Whoever he/she ends up with romantically can allow for a wider range in character creation options with half alien kids. I would like to play as a Turian.
"Not everything is as it seems" -> "Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them." - Obi-Wan Kenobi Maybe the start of the game will be like the interactive comic Genesis. Where you can make a few choices / get told a story and THEN the game starts after getting to say goodbye to the crew one last time and then new threat with the dark engery storyline....
Honestly the Lazarus project clearly worked better than anticipated. The one thing people forget about that breath is that Shepard is still alive after being spaced (by destroying the reapers) and falling down to Earth (Shepard died by the same fate at the beginning of ME2), so while Shepard was significantly injured already, and then reentering Earths' atmosphere they should have died again, but they didn't. And with the reaper tech who knows how long someone could live now, well someone who may have experienced some enhancements courtesy of reaper tech.
Done right, the next ME game will be a passing of the torch from Shepard to the new MC. How they do that exactly is up for debate until the game comes out. My personal preference would be a split main character, parts of the game as Shepard, potentially a couple years after ME3, parts as the new MC, far enough in the future that Andromeda can be present. That way you get your one more story of Shepard but at the same time a new MC for games going forward.
The poster tells me that the geth will play a major role, one might even say a huge impact in the next Mass Effect. Perhaps Shepard allowing Legion to upload the reaper code into the geth will have unforseen consequences. Or perhaps after facing the reaper threat other races of the galaxy will want to get rid of the geth as well since they are also synthetics and only Shepard and his crew will try to stop this from happening. Shepard might even become a rogue spectre just like Seren and the person in the N7 outfit is a new council´s spectre trying to stop Shepard and his crew.
The massive power output that blows up the citadel and destroys the reapers could have warped space and time giving Shephard the Captain America treatment, preserving him in stasis into the future.
Well, we know for a fact that only five Arks and the Nexus left for Andromeda in 2185, just six months before the Reaper War started, however, in the first ME5 trailer, we explicitly hear someone say Ark 6 is away. This means that a sixth Ark left for Andromeda after the Reaper War. This indicates that the poster could very well be a depiction of Shepard and the gang coming together in Andromeda, possibly a few years after the events of Andromeda.
Sorry if shepherd isn't back I'm not interested. It would just be another Andromeda game. We wanted a game directly after number 3. Shephard is the game. If you didn't want to bring him back then might as well just start a new trilogy or something. I can't see a game without shepherd, if they send him off in number 4 I guess I could accept that but if your bringing back liara and others then you need to bring back shepherd cuz they are part of our crew. It's like bring back the bulls but no MJ. UNLESS! We are playing as shepherds child and naturally liara would be the mother. That I'll accept and be interesting how they carry that.
I think the easiest way to fit that in is if they find Shepard in the perfect destroy ending and place him/her into cryo sleep until they're able to fully fix him or keep him there for them to recover
I think Shepard is coming back because if he wasn’t, letting people think there’s a chance seems like a bad strategy. There’s no way BioWare doesn’t know how much hype there is around the idea that he’ll be in the game and they’ve kind of played into it by being so cryptic about everything. If they let fans get their hopes up like this for so long only for it not to go anywhere, there will definitely be backlash
It's likely a new character. Whenever it's Shepard, Shepard is advertised with default Male Shep but the N7 day leak shows a more feminine body type. So it's likely a new character. I really do want Shepard to come back though. Mass Effect just doesn't feel the same without him and the moments with the crew. As much as I want Shepard to come back though, I know it's most likely a new character. I don't want to get my hopes up of it being Shepard too.
My current theory is that the character is an Asari born to Liara/Shepard, whether your Shepard romanced her or not. That 'gift' scene before end game battle was a joining of sorts? This is me creating theory.
@@1957DLTYeess, that's my theory too! I was going through comments just to find if someone also have thought of that :D Like my current theory for (at least some part of) the story is that Liara's and Shepard's child will go on some sort of scavenger/egg hunt (I don't remember the exact phrasing) to find remains/body of Shep with at least some part of the old squad like Grunt, Liara, Garrus and maybe also Tali (though I don't remember for how long can their species live so that may also be a factor here) and some new faces. And that scean with Liara smiling after finding some piece of Shep's old N7 armor might be the moment when they find them :) would be cool, not gonna lie I would like to play a story like that (with like planet exploring similiar to the first game) ;)
Your quote of one more story gave me an idea. Far fetched sure, but what if by chance they are teasing not just one game but multiple games? A story like you suggested for the Shepard send off we all wanted and it helps bridge the story line into the next trilogy or whatever. It could be like Shep wrapping up loose ends with leviathan and cerberus but getting that hint that something lurks in the dark waiting but our hero has retired so to speak.
this is at the same time best time and worst time being a fan of something you get to speculate about the game or movie but its the worst at the same becasue i cannot wait and i want this game now but bioware take the time you need but i hope if shepard is MC the comeback is some how epicilly done intro scene i mean adn they explain how he/she if he/she survived from ME3. Also if bioware chooces to continue without shepard damn i want to play as shepard daughter or son i don't care if the child is adopted child or legit actual child of shepard we would play it as the child after me3 if child meets lets say Liara they couild talk about shepard and child could ask questions about it and we could get flashbacks and at the same time it could service as fanservice to players who played the original games.
@MrHulthen the way they also can tie the angara being around is if they are brought into the milky way by the Jardaan since they created the Angara, and also the Jardaan could have been the ones that sent the distress signal from Andromeda when they accidentally unleashed the Scourge and potentially fled to the milky way since they haven't been seen in the Heleus Cluster of Andromeda and it was confirmed they left the Heleus Cluster after Meridian was sent adrift and the Scourge was unleashed. So in a way they could still set the story of the new mass effect after Mass Effect 3 and still incorporate elements of Andromeda while leaving Andromeda's main story as its own separate story. Its actually funny how people forget that the Jardaan created the Angara and the Remnant and we still know very little about this race.
I always thought the Jardann were problably some form of synthetic, just because them trying to understand life by making it ties in with the synthesis ending when the synthetics wanted to understand organic feelings.
I side with the majority of the community on this subject. That Shepard and crew needs to come back and have a real proper conclusion that passes the torch to a new character, setting, or conflict. It's hard to have your franchise continue after one of the worst endings in all of gaming history.
My thoughts exactly. There's nothing wrong with wanting to introduce a new protagonist to the franchise, but with the way ME3 ended, it will just feel as if the devs are dodging around the question of Shepard's fate, unless we get a proper conclusion to their story.
Since BioWare is using the bible, they technically aren't done with the story. People tend to gloss over this, but the Apocalypse is not a war against Satan. It's God judging humanity. The four horsemen, the angels, and creatures that torture humanity, the trials and tribulations, all are done by God. In Mass Effect, the Star Child (Catalyst) is the analog to God, that ultimately hands the decision over to Shepard, which is the analog to Jesus. Remember, Shepard is killed by the mutated Protheons, which are their cycle's "Roman Empire." Just how they kill Jesus in the bible. He's then resurrected via the Lazarus Project and proceeds to unite twelve apostles to set the world on it's path. You know. Mass Effect 2. I'm not sure if we want to consider Saren in the first game as the analog for the antichrist, as technically there is no THE antichrist, but various agents working in favor of the end times. Take that however you need. So ME3 concludes after Shepard brings the twelve races together. Funny thing. One of the twelve tribes in the bible, Benjamin, are nearly wiped out for misdeeds. In Mass Effect the Batarians are also nearly wiped out. Anyways, moving forward. Jesus proceeds to reign on Earth for 1000 years. Why 1000? Oh. Because they never actually FOUGHT Satan during the Apocalypse. After those 1000 years, he comes to Earth in his full form like a Dragon Ball villain. He is finally defeated and cast into the lake of fire, and all sin is purged. So, technically BioWare is lacking an actual "true villain" to finish the Shepard arc. The Reapers and Star Child were not inherently evil or good. They were acting on the idea that they were necessary to keep organics from CAUSING a true evil to occur. So with the Reapers gone, if we go with the destroy option as canon, then this means that "Satan" is now free to make his appearance. So they could jump the Mass Effect story forward many centuries, and then have this real enemy show up. Liara would still be alive, and to explain Shepard still being around? Not too difficult. People forget this man literally entered a geth digital world to help with the Quarians and Geth relations. What if Legion "copied" him while in there. We know the Destroy option could lead to Shepard dying, but it doesn't mean his mind is gone. With the introduction of the Shepard Clone, we are made fully aware that the Shepard we are playing as in ME2 and ME3 is not the original Shepard, but a rebuilt construct. Even his mind was recreated using advanced AI methods. What's to stop them from bringing Shepard back this way in the far future? They've already hinted that the Geth weren't fully destroyed. So long story short, we could easily get a final battle with the Galaxy's true antagonist, Mr Morningstar.
@@lmaciulevicius you are speaking facts. Every other ending except perfect is less than satisfactory. Really hope they bring him back so we can get a good finale and after that they can whatever,
I always assume that the Milky Way races do achieve everlasting peace after the reaper war regardless of what ending you choose but I guess realistically crime and corruption returns after all the milky way races team up to fight a galaxy wide threat so maybe things go back to normal so to speak afterwards because no other threats or challenge after the reapers except each other but maybe not a power struggle over reaper tech but could be wrong. Idk I just think the Milky Way does gain peace otherwise it does undermine Shepard's story/ player's story with all the games.
I honestly kinda hope it’s a dual narrative using rider and shepard, like imagine playing the first two missions and then you get a cutscene that pans over to andromeda and shows the andromeda crew getting sucked into a wormhole bringing them to the milkyway galaxy in the past after the reaper war (in the perfect destroy ending) therefore explaining Shepard living, the Geth, and the angaran, and either you choose which character you wanna play as after importing/customizing them and the one you don’t pick is a permanent squadmate or alternatively you have missions where you play as shepard and some where you play as rider. I hope it’s the first one cus this allows more role play elements and endings and maybe even more squadmates like Me2
The one thing I want at the very least is to see the choices I've made in the first 3 games pay off in the new game. As much as I would like to continue playing as my Commander Shepard, I would be perfectly fine with getting to see how my Shepard and and his friends are doing.
I personally really don't want Shepard to come back. I think it's a HUGE stretch, and way more unbelievable than them dying and getting resurrected by Cerberus. I also believe that their death at the end of Mass Effect 3 was fitting for the legendary character, dying to sacrifice themselves to save the galaxy. The potential for BioWare to ruin Shepard's timeline is way too high and I'd rather just get a great new protagonist with connections to the original trilogy.
It may be the design of that N7 outfit and maybe the fact that I loved Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, but I kinda hope this Mass Effect story is more of an espionage thriller in the fallout of the Reaper War. Like you said, a lot of people vying for control of Reaper technology, secret groups working underground to destabilize the galaxy and unravel the peace we thought would come after the galaxy unites during the war.
IMHO.. two hypothesis... 1)Demolition Man situation with shepard being recovered but due to ReaperInducedIllness he got stasised untile a few decades/centuries? later. The galaxy in turmoil due to the taxation of trade rout.... ..i mean reaper tech arms race plus leviathan enslaving species to wage war on the other species. Shepard have become a legend but also a sleeping beauty situation were he is basically conserved a la "lenin" You lead a plucky young specter to deal with the situation.. and during a serious and well though first act and second act the entire saga shift in tone, shenanigans ensue and "somehow Sovereign returned" and we need to have an old time spectre to deal with an old time menace. your hero revive Shepard and from there the game play as basically the citadel DLC, you meet Edi with a red arm for no reason, Shepard have a moody son who wants to be a space pirate because its edgy.. ahahah funny.. ahahah we have no ideas xD xD 🤣 disney destroyed SW.. xD 2) the entire game is shepard fighting the indoctrination process, marauder shield was a lie. Indroctination theory was real. Break out of the Matrix. Shepard will shout "it's Sheparding time" and will shepard all over the place xD xD
@@spitlikesfire9368 He wakes up, gets found, they rebuild the Relays 'cause big united smarts. The dead are buried and I'm Commander Shepard, about to repopulate Illium and retire.
I am someone who doesn't really want Shepard to be the protagonist again. Not for a whole game, at least. I would love for a new game to talk about what Shepard's choice did for the galaxy and maybe see a dlc with them as the protagonist. But really, I just want something new. I do really want to say that I appreciate the approach you took with making this video. I feel like a lot of people are unrealistic about their Shepard's alive theories, and you were good about tempering expectations for what this game could be. I think that the new character is by far the most likely direction for Bioware to go, and even if we wish there was a way for Shepard to work, it's still very unlikely. Idk, I feel like I'm gonna get hate for this but I wanted to say that I liked this.
I probably wouldnt play the game without shepherd returning. We've already tried the new protagonist attempt with andromeda and its no where close to the trilogy. This game will flop sales and review wise without shepherd almost guarantee it.
I’m a bit mixed. The armor looks too cyberpunky. Shepards armor always looked like something humanity would actually make for combat, the new armor looks like something a civilian mercenary might wear when they don’t have money for more than a helmet and chest armor
Because Liara is remember the good times which let's be honest everyone in Shepard's squad does this in ME2 and ME3 that have been with Shepard because even if it has only been a year or two. They still invoke good or bad memories.
@@masterblaster7953 Like Liara is obsessed, and spends so much on a birthday present or something?:) That scene strongly suggests that Shepard is lost, and it is really important to find clues about his fate.
@@juzoliyea, so it stories more looked like findind shepard. Just like Javik where the whole story are linked to Prothean, than it's last survivor only showed up on DLC.
Honestly, I've been wondering if it's not another Shepard Clone, like you see in the Citadel DLC. One that get's brought out when the galaxy needs them, so you get a bit of both. New character trying to carve their own path out of the shadow of their origin, and Shepard.
Time is not linear. The game could start in 2890 for example, but then through an (natural) time space anomaly the protagonists get send back in time ⌚ to the events after Mass Effect 3 and the defeat of the Reapers. Timeline jumping. There they would search for Shepard, because they need him and his skills, maybe even the prothean information in him. They travel back to their respective future time-line with Shepard and maybe with some of the old crew to solve their issues.... in that way Andromeda would have happened and could be included...
@@nunya_bizniz and it's pretty unambiguous that regardless of what you did to prepare, all Synthetics will die. Which also begs the question: how is Shepard still alive, last I checked they had tons of cybernetics inside them after cerberus revived them.
Is it possible that the Jardaan created the Angara in their own image? So that's not actually an Angara talking with Liara in the nightclub, but is actually a Jardaan. If it is, they could have theoretically arrived as an envoy anytime after ME3.
Honestly would love either direction. One last hurrah for Sheperd and crew, but also feel like why would they add Angarans to posters? Time travel? And if that is the case would people even want time travel in the Mass Effect Universe? Feel like the game most likely is set in 2890
Remember the mention in Andromeda of the Geth repurposing a ME relay as a FTL telescope. Their tech could be the link between the 2 storylines to create the new game. Also, the new protagonist could be the daughter of Shepard and Liara behind that mask.
My take is that they're just going to keep on releasing cryptic "teasers" until someone like you comes up with a plausible story that links it all together and appeases the fandom
Experience tells that when a strange character is shown in a trailer, it will be a new character, and not some other incarnation of the old one. For example, when Starcraft 2.3 was getting ready to be released, people were wondering what kind of black protoss it was, suggesting that it was Ulrezaj or someone else. And this turned out to be just a new Alarak. If they wanted to show us the old character, they would have shown him. Just like they did with Liara in the first teaser.
@@2b_or_not_2b_4gotten May be Shep is still somewhere in the game. Actually I don't like cults of personalities. Maybe not a very good example, but in Assassins Creed we have a new hero in each part. And what does it spoil? There are many shortcomings, but this is not one of them. Personally, I would be fine with having Mass Effect with another hero, but the most important thing is quality. To avoid getting Andromeda 2.
@@2b_or_not_2b_4gotten I understand what you talking about but I didn't say that Shepard's absence means his death. In addition, without him, the game could continue as his friends, for example, there could be an awesome sequel in which we play in turn as Garrus, Liara and Tali. In general, I don’t believe in the cult of personality. In reality, it always leads to bad things. Why do the Terminator and Aliens stick to the faces of their actors and characters, while the Predator or Fast and Furious has new heroes every time? Do they lose from this? In the Resident Evil films there is one heroine, but in the games they are different. Which is ultimately better?
@@suddenimpulse030 I agree with you as we can see from some examples but for me personally every ending except perfect ending is unsatisfying and what would even be the point of perfect ending if Shepard is alive and not used? Part of problem with repetitive main character can be fixed by adding more side characters. I mean there is a high probability that masked character is main (or maybe side?) character but what if we could get 2 main characters?? Like in gta franchise where you have 1 and then suddenly 3.
@@suddenimpulse030100% agree. It's very poor writing if that's the case. There's certain games that are the character. Tomb Raider, God of War, Hitman ect. But if a big game (as in lore/world such as RPGs) rely on one character then it's just poor world building and unimaginative writing. I'm sure, in fact I remember people being concerned about not playing John Marston in RDR2 and look how that turned out. In fact the worst part of that game was playing him again as it just didn't make sense. A far better choice from both a gameplay and narrative perspective would have been Sadie which is another example. RDR3 would be a lot worse if Arthur either A. Came back to life or B. It turned out he didn't die. It would be poor and lazy writing and completely taken a way from the emotional impact of 2. Playing Sadie in Mexico or something would be a lot better regardless of how much people love Arthur. You could go on. We wouldn't have Soul Reaver if we only played Kain. Imagine playing Altair for 13 games. We'd never have gotten Ezio or Kassandra or Kenway. Imagine playing Claud in ever GTA. Nah it's poor writing that limits potential
@@wm3x7there's too many loopholes and "ifs, buts and maybes". It's just far more reasonable to have a new character. The fact there's a lot of fans asking for Shepard to have been r*ped to justify a certain narrative just shows the literacy gymnastics that people are going through to make something work that quite frankly doesn't warrant the pay off. They already buggered up the ending of 3 and buggered up Andromeda. It's far more likely that they'd do further damage to Shep and co anyway. There's really no indication that the Shephard and story they write would live up to not only the hype but so many peoples different interpretations, desires and own theories about how everything should play out
@@suddenimpulse030 Exactly! Fans have to let go of their sort-term selfish desires to play as Shepard again in order to the Mass Effect Universe to thrive long-term. It could be so much more. I personally prefer to play 2, 3, 5, 10... more Mass Effect games than just one more with Shep.
I don't want to raise my hopes up for if Shepherd will return or not... But this is a game that has featured not only that cloning can happen successfully, but also the Lazarus Project. I mean, even if the game does happen in the long-term future, there is a possibility of a "Lazarus Project 2.0" that could do better than the original project. It could be possible, but at this point anything is and that is the beauty of fiction and science fiction: anything you can imagine can become cannon as long as you want it. In the end, it's all up to Bioware what kind of story they want to tell.
so is the correct ending to ME3 that Shepard opts to control? I'd like to think the Shepard used the destroy option - this would account for the destroyed Reapers and the end of ME3 shows he survives this. Perhaps the old man telling his "grandson" the stories of the Shepard, is in fact Shepard himself. But through the "destroy" option, all AI life is destroyed, including the Geth - so that doesn't make sense either if the Geth are back.
Control is obviously the bad choice. We know from the VI on Thessia that Kai Leng is indoctrinated, and that the Prothean attempts to build the Crucible were thwarted by a Cerberus-like group of Protheans who wished to control the Reapers, like the Illusive Man did. If Kai Leng is indoctrinated, we know that the Illusive Man must surely be, which means Control is the ending that the Reapers want-because it isn't control at all. The Prothean VIs clearly can detect indoctrination, we know that Vigil on Ilos could tell that Saren was indoctrinated, and the Prothean VI on Thessia was if anything even more sophisticated. Destroy is clearly the only rational ending, the only one that makes sense with everything that had gone before. Synthesis is just absurd and should never have been considered as an option. The idea that forcibly causing all life everywhere to become techno-organic hybrids is the 'best' ending is laughably insane.
If we get to see tali and garrus again im happy, if not, that’s ok too, I just need a memorial in the hub of the galaxy for Sheperd and the crew that has passed on, never forget the greatest man who untied almost an entire galaxy to fight the greatest threat and win!
I noticed something about the N7 day 2023 trailer. The track playing in it is a sample from ME3 soundtrack "Aralakh Company", which is the name of the team led by Grunt. Could this mean the Krogan that seems to be in the background is actually Grunt?
I would prefer a story like where we play a descendant of shepard... Either sn Asari or human. But the protagonist isn't a cut out soldier, but after 700 years, the shepard name has slowly become less and less prestigious as Shepards like turned to obscurity... And then comes you, a Young hotshot criminal on Omega 3 joining a merc band. The mercenary missions could be tutorial until you get your own ship, after you Discover an ominous artifact related to the geth, and in some way, to the reapers. Still having a sense of duty, you try to make the citadel listen... But to no avail so you to figure It out on your own with your team. It turns out, the geth heretics are back on the lose due to geth acquired autonomy... But later on, you start fighting also other species revealing the resurgence of a reaper cult, that manage to re-awaken a reaper, but still not combat ready.
They can retcon the timeskip. Andromeda travelers don't actually know if the timeskip really happened. The Benefactor may have easily lied for people to not try coming back. The Milkyway engineers & scientists (or leftovers of Andromeda Initiative) can find a way to travel *to and from* Andromeda quickly (since we can manufacture mass relays now) and also them back. Also, Mass Effect 4 has to be successful. I don't think EA will allow them to risk losing the publicity of Shepard. Most people hated Ryder simply because "he wasn't Shepard", not just because of his lacking leadership skills. Incorporating Andromeda is a huge risk by itself.
People are not getting it. The voice in the encrypted audio is not only Liara but also Shepard. Liara’s VA has a raspy voice. Shepard’s does not. Can’t believe it’s gone this long without being noticed
Shepard should obviously be the main character again, and hopefully we don't need to mod the game again for LGBT romance. In any case, Mass Effect is a space soap opera first and foremost, a shooter next. So yes, the beloved well written characters are the key for a good story. If this is another prequel I'm gonna pass.
Perhaps the Illusive Man had a contingency when he rebuilt Shepard. We all know he liked his backup plans. He created an AI of Shepherd's personality from a brain scan upload or something when Maranda was rebuilding them to fall back on if Shepherd didn't survive or was killed again. When Mass Effect 3 happend, The AI was forgotten/lost for whatever reason. Queue Liara as the Shadow Broker stumbling across this hidden AI. Something is happening in the Galaxy and she decides she needs to bring Shepherd back in an EDI style form.
I know there're tons of posts and videos about the indoctrination theory, but everytime I see the cutscene at 7:32 it reminds me of the original endings (prior to the "cryout fix/patch") because the original endings made the final act elusive, like a dream - as if Shepard was fighting indocrination after getting severely knocked down and injured before reaching the conduit to the Citadel on Earth. And to fix that ending and shape Mass Effect 4 as a new storyline centered around Shepard and the Reapers again (for true closure) all it would take is to return the player to that point in time as a prelude, and make something happen to the reapers in front of the beacon (like a bombardment from the Normandy at Harbinger) to allow Shepard's rescue (like his team mates' intervention in any capacity/sacrifice) or lead the squad to the completion of the mission into the beacon and then make the final act the real deal like it should have been. For an opening act in a new sequel, fixing the underwhelming endings from ME3 (that was thought unfixable) would feel epic and rewarding in ME4, as well as canonizing the indoctrination theory. I mean... the signs were all over the game like premonition, including the end choices "right or wrong", "paragon or renegade" (the colors swapped: blue to control and save the reapers and red to destroy them). Besides, the control and synthesis endings make no sense for continuity. The synthesis ending as explained by Harbinger's avatar (the little boy) sounds ilogical, just another form of control by giving away every organic lifeform to the reapers through the merge (organic + synthetic), without their indoctrination methods. Those two endings (control and synthesis) would mess up the new storyline or create discontinuity, imo.
I want BD Shepard back. At the very least, I want him as old man shep and his wife (tali) to be training the new generation of N7 recruits, the protagonist being one of them.
Biggest question is, Mark Meer signed on to this or nah? Hoping they don't pull a Venom Snake and get an entirely new voice actor if Shepard is returned.
There is no Mass Effect without Shepard & the crew. They’d be safer to return Shep as a protagonist, tbh. Ryder twins didn’t land too well with Andromeda, and Bioware has to nail this ME game if they want to gain back community goodwill & trust. Besides, BW let it slip about Shep & the rest picking up the pieces after the war in that geth crater poster description. Only has to indicate that Shep is coming back. Andromeda should remain an independent spin-off, if you ask me. Its races can travel to Milky Way, but keep everything else (characters included) out of main ME games
I see two exits here: 1. Either we get a heavy retcon/Ex Machina taken out of their sweet posterior to piece all of this together. 2. There's no new ME because the new DA whomps hard, which may be the case taking into account the gameplay preview of that DA. I know it sounds very pessimistic, but the gaming industry teached me to have low expectations, that way it doesn't hurt when it doesn't go well, and get happier when it does :]
Honestly I would love a blank slate. One of the things I loved about the series was building up Shepard's notoriety from basically zero. Shepard starts out as someone with potential but not really well known outside of the Alliance. Over the course of the games Shepard becomes a great hero. In this new game I don't want to start out as some badass, I want to be someone unknown with a lot of talent/potential, and need to work my way up and gain the respect of people like Shepard's former squadmates.
They have the Scourge, which could very easily be weaponized/ super concentrated dark energy, which is KNOWN to screw with time (see also Haestrom's sun, Conrad Verner's essay war asset in ME3), RIGHT THERE, so if there aren't time travel shenanigans to merge the two games I'm rewriting the plot
Few extra bits I'd like to throw in which might/might not be useful: - Regarding nightclub scene: IF it is Garrus (which I think we all know it is) then WHO is the human he is talking to? Would likely be someone he is familiar with and therefore central to the plot? - N7 2023 video: maybe a bit of a leap but looking at the size/build of the person Garrus is talking to.. could the mystery nightclub person? Reinforcing that this person might be the new protagonist. To add to your bit about 'cerbereus yellow', the helmet looks 100000% Cerberus - see the helmet designs for Cerb Engineers/Shadows - so to me feels obvious there's some Cerb involvement there. - From teasers & looking at nightclub again: Seems obvious Liara is looking for Shep/Reaper Tech/Geth, but that she is planned to have a Geth assistant. Reinforced by both the recording and the way the Geth is fully in a 'bodyguard' role standing by her table. - Two Krogan (Grunt & Wrex), a Salaraian and a Volus.. but NO drell, other asari, batarians, quarians: maybe the choice of background aliens is just 'set dressing', but maybe it's also trying to draw specific attention to the ones it DOES show - Angara: this is a leap, a very big leap, but.. relay gate superweapon, distress call, Angara angrily shouting at Liara (is a real Angara? Or a symbolic one?). Knowing we've been told that they want to tie into Andromeda, perhaps in canon the Andromeda arks don't establish long term and a call is sent back to the Milky Way to come rescue the Arks & Angara from whatever crisis has befallen them
Sadly they cant continue like they do in Dragon Age in different region or at least they tried in Andromeda. I think a 200-400 year time jump is the logical conclusion as the impact of player choices from earlier games would be minimal in the new game due to the time difference.
Honestly.i genuinely hope that Shepard does not return. As much as Andromeda was super underwhelming I do want a new story to follow and not have to explore that galaxy with Sepaerd. We already did that and we don't need to canonize everyone's Shepard into a one mixed version. Plus Mass Effect isn't about only the humans or comander Shepard. That's just me though.
i have no idea what they are going to do. I would love to play as shepard again but if angara arre there then it is very unlikely unless cerberus finds shepard and freezes him in cryostasis for over 600 years...
The Shepard Dilemma is real.
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There may not be a dilemma. Shepard was brought back from being dead. Essentially his body was only a few years old and our hearts do not determine how fast, or slow, we age.
If Shepard comes back, so should Garrus. Because there's no Shepard without a Vakarian.
Tali and Wrex also. The best Trio
Spirits be with you brother 😂
Amen to that!
Let's not forget Shepard's son, Grunt!
@@jlord5078 didn't Grunt call Shepard "Beastmaster " tho?
I love all the little snippets they've dropped but my biggest complaint is that I think they are hyping us up far too early before the game releases. Especially if one looks at the DA release timeline
Yuup
I guess it also depends, Mass Effect: Continued, will be on Unreal which definitely will make it slightly more quicker compared to Dreadwolf which is being a retooled live-service frostbite engine game. The bigger issue is the gaming crash, and EA cutting stuff already.
We should hope that the next Mass Effect doesn't have several reboots and a worldwide pandemic slowing down development.
I agree that they shouldn't have teased us in 2020 but DA went through multiple reboots and Covid. I doubt that ME will have as bad of a dev cycle as Dreadwolf. That being said, if Dreadwolf launches this year, I don't see ME5 coming till 2027 at a minimum.
It's been in preproduction for 3+ years so I expect that the story/characters/concept art are/nearly finished but 3 years is basically the minimum development cycle for a AAA game.
I don’t think it is them hyping the fans up so much as us hyping ourself up. We literally only have an announcement they are doing it and a single unnamed cool looking character. The fandom is doing all the overhyping work from there.
A part of me is stuck between letting Shepard rest and wanting our reaper killing badass back onto the scene.
I’d like a middle ground where we have a new protagonist but shepherd is still alive and maybe assist us
Just say fuck it and have us be a younger clone of Shepard.
@@YoungMrBlue I love this idea too, a story line that would make Shepard say "Wow" considering the stuff he achieved.
I'm fully in the former. Shepard's story is OVER. The last thing we want is a TWD situation where they beat the dead horse until it's literally mush.
@@randomlyentertaining8287 I agree with you, but the problem is that the ME story is entirely about Shepard and and their found family of space misfits as they adventure through space. The franchise is popular because of these characters; MEA failed almost explicitly because nobody could be bothered to give a shit about the characters and the story by extension Making another game without Shepard and co. would be like making a Scooby Doo tv show without Scooby, and we all know how well _that_ turned out.
Is this all to say that a mass effect can’t happen without Shepard and friends? No, but it means the BioWare devs are going to have to work twice as hard on character creation alone if they want this game to be successful. I wouldn’t mind if they brought a new cast, but I’d be nervous as hell considering how Andromeda turned out.
I think Shepard will be, as they need to boost the popularity of the series. The fact that EA will just tell them "Do what you want, but this game needs to be successful" might push them to that decision.
I wish that we could play as Shepards kid, either biological (asari or human) or adopted (other races). Like that we could play other species and we would avoid reusing Shepard while being able to keep the conection. Perhaps make Shep a mentor figure, like Anderson in ME1. Lets us choose species and who was the other parent (any LI or none)
@@anvime739 I got the same idea when I was thinking about what scenario would satisfy most of the fans. Having Shepard and not at the same time but getting closure either way, passing the torch, choosing species but not complicate things (for the developers) over very different backgrounds.
But the kid will have to have their own identity (not just being Shepard in another skin). Another growing into the shoes story like Ryder's?
Instead of Pre-service History there'd be Shep's LI, instead of Psychological Profile there'd be the species. But then if the kid is an asari you have to have biotics which brings up problems: 1. you can only choose adept, vanguard, sentinel or explorer; 2. use the profile system from MEA, but then how do you justify jumping between classes without SAM?
Also, it won't work for possible newcoming fans who have no idea about Shepard's love interests... You have to take into consideration that for a franchise to thrive in the long-term it needs to bring in new blood. You can't make a game only for the already existing fans.
At first, I was so happy about myself that oh, I solved it! But then I realised that no, I might've just created even more problems... So, I threw it out he airlock.
Personally, I'd rather play as Ryder again to continue her/his hero's journey.
I agree. Making mass effect without Shepard is risky. Making it with Shepard is a sure slammed dunk success. And I dont think Bioware are in a good place to take risks with a new protag. After this one maybe.
@@anvime739 Mentor, maybe. Kid? Nah. Shepard as PC, or something totally new. But Shepard is waybsafer for Bioware. Shepard on the cover will sell copies. And we all know EA want to do that
@@anvime739after what shepherd pull out in mass effect 3 there is a chance of a type of clone
Honestly, I just want to see Shepard with their love interest live their lives together post reaper war. Of course, before any of that happens, Shepard could have one more story left in them, and this way, they (the writers) can finally be do what they should've back in 2012 (not trying to blame the writers. They did what they could.) and give Shepard the ending they deserve and give Shepard the final send-off.
100% agreed
My heart can’t take it😂😭
That's usually how Bioware does things. My guess is they'll let you import your saves from the legendary edition but they'd have to make the alternate ending be the actual storyline. That would require an update to the legendary edition though to make Commander Shepard live. It's almost impossible on legendary edition.
@@matthewwilder5164I found it far easier to get Shepard to live in the legendary edition. In the original you had to play the online combat maps. In LE, as long as you do every single mission and side mission and scan everything, you easily get the war assets needed to live.
Cries in Thane
I'd prefer if Shepard comes back, especially as the main character, however I can see why they might choose someone diffrent. The problem is, I don't want Shepard to be dead. I go through the hassle of getting 7400+ War Assets everytime to get the "Shepard lives" ending. If there is some story (be it main character, NPC, a news article for all I care) about Shepard being alive (and living happily) that would make the game so much better.
I don't want the hero that I followed through years of turmoil and war to end up dead, I want a happy ending.
I totally agree with you. What’s the point of him living at the end and not putting him in the game? Although I would like Shepard to be a main character and not easter egg in some codex or mentioned in random conversation
I think Shepherd deserves some rest. While I absolutely want them to return, in an important role no less, I do not want them on the front line. I want the burnout and problems they had in the later parts of the games to remain with them. And coming to terms with them no longer being the badest of badasses but instead a mentor or having the same role as Andersson did in the original trilogy.
@@wogsiWhy not have Shepard come back, as the main character, but be a wreck because of multiple shellshock events? He's died twice, after all.
@@AndrooUK I mean. Sure. But that's how they felt during ME3. I'd mean they spent half the games in PTSD and I'd want a fresh story.
I think it's probably unlikely, because of the effort involved, but I see two possibilities for how to make Shepard return as the protagonist.
1: Have a Dragon Age: Inquisition type setup, where you can "create" your world by determining all the decisions you did/could've made throughout the previous games. Who survived, who died, who helped you, what choice you made. If you made the correct choices for Shepard to survive at the "True" ending, you can have the option to play as Shepard or as a new protagonist, which would have influences on the story progression.
2: Some way, some how, Clone Shepard survives/returns and we play as him, instead of the original. It could be the same clone we fought against, or a different clone.
I think after the game comes out there'll be a lot of people talking about how misleading the trailers were and it'll be explained away by the devs as they always are in this situation. The game is *still* in pre-production (lol) so I don't think we should be expecting a teaser trailer from 4 years ago to be necessarily representative of the story when this game finally comes out.
I'd love to have Shepard back. But whoever we get needs to display the traits that heroes have had since literally the first written story in history. There's a reason these kinds of characters have resonated with audiences for thousands of years. Andromeda, by moving away from that to try to embrace a "new kind of hero for a different generation", missed the mark entirely.
I like what you say
I don't think the overarching story or characters should be dismissed simply because it's pre production. Laying out the basic plot and characters you play as is the sort of thing that's covered in preproduction
Yeah the immature kid hero doesn’t really work in these high intensity adult situations
Commercially speaking, they need Shepard back or they risk a big Flop
TBH I don't need or even want Shepard to be the main caracter again, but we all need that main caracter to have an emotional link to Shepard (family, adopted, trainee, whichever), and we need to see Shepard and the first trilogy love interest live their lives together.
Even if Shepard is not in the game at all, it would be impossible to not mention Shepard all the time, not only in lore, but by companions, Liara especially. So either Shepard would be in the game at least as a character, or they would be a presence in the game. It would be weird otherwise, forced separation from Shepard, like we don't talk about them? It is how it is, branding. There is no Mass Effect game without Shepard somehow in it.
He or she will no doubt be revered as space jesus for a very long time, I wouldn't be surprised if there's gonna be a galactic religion revolving around him since Shep did the impossible several times, and is responsble for "activiating" the crucible killing all the Reapers.
Seeing as Shephard lived in a galaxy exclusively filled with incompetent crayon eaters who defy all reasoning with the fact any of them can put their own armour on without Shepard helping, I'd say they'll definitely remember him/her. The competence of Shep compared to the billions of other aliens would be akin to the cavealiens who worshipped Leviathan
@@CmdrVictory He/She was already revered quite a lot in ME2 and especially 3, no doubt there's going to be some sort of evil cult side quest (would be perfectly funny if the leader was Conrad)
@@Cappuccino_Rabbitor Conrad’s trying to take down the cult 🤷♂️
I want 1 of 2 things. To get shephard back or to have the choice to be at least one of the main race aliens for the campaign.
YESS, this. I don’t mind us just finding outthat Shepard gets to live with their love interest. And I really really want playable aliens.
I guess the only problem with main character aliens would be adjusting their height and hand animations, like Turian, Salarian and Quarians
But this is perfectly possible with Asari, Batarian and perhaps Geth too (i saw someone mod Legion's model into Shepard and most animations fits quite well)
Other than that, yes, please BioWare, give us playable aliens and please give us a Batarian squadmate
@@Cappuccino_Rabbit oh no yeah, I understand, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind waiting for them to make those adjustments (It’s been my dream forever to get to play a Turian)
@@aperson3996 that will never happen not in mass effect it will always have play as human
@@PALADINKILLIAN-1403 but why, tho? We already had playable races in the multiplayer for ME3 and Andromeda. All they would have to do is make the playable models for me5, and animate them in cutscenes as well. Now, Im not saying that would be easy, but I wouldn’t mind waiting for them to properly integrate them into the singleplayer
I still think its possible if they go from the destroy ending liars could find Shepard and he could get cryogenically frozen
No, we need to move on from Shepard. Enough. His story has been told.
@@suddenimpulse030 hush boy
@@suddenimpulse030 thank you
@@suddenimpulse030 Agreed
So it's Mass Effect 2 except it's Liara who restores the body? With the recent confirmation of the return of the Geth, this is starting to give me vibes of early scripts of Mass Effect 2 where Legion was one of the first squads to meet Shepard
We are being trolled.
Given Mass Effect 3's abysmal ending, I don't see this game having a good story.
@@zaragachizanparo4948 yeah the fact that I find Mass Effect 3 enjoyable after installing the happy ending mod and the Epilogue mod doesn't inspire me. Andromeda is boring to me. I tried to play it but the story is weak. Bioware's best days are behind them. The saddest thing is Larian and Bioware were founded at about the same time. Yet Bioware is pretty much defunct due to EA.
We now see the reasoning as to why it's so important for Devs to remain as independent as possible.
@@CuteGallifreyian Plus the good ol' Mass Effect, Bioware creators/team are working on a new game called: Exodus. And I'm pretty sure this Mass Effect 4 is for a reason here, now. 14 years later. Because I think they are a little worried about them. I'm a huge fan of Mass Effect but I had a little strange feeling at Mass Effect 3 already that something is not right. I really wish that Mass Effect 4 will be good but I have serious doubts nowadays especially when it comes to EA or other money grab games.
@@zaragachizanparo4948 but you forget everything else in the game? Mass effect is about the journey not the destination
@@Sam-pr9rr A good journey can still be ruined by a garbage destination. Imagine if One Piece ended where it turned out there was no treasure(mark my words if this turns out to be true). All that great journey winds up being completely pointless. The reverse problem is also possible where the journey is trash but the ending is cool. It's still a problem either way. Either the journey was pointless or the ending was unearned.
Damn, it would be so cool to have some kind of Demolition man situation with Shepard overwhelmed by the new world he discovers after a long sleep
this is what i was thinking. cryogenics, etc... and shepherd is discovered when the galaxy needs him again the most. a captain america type character. this is the best way to continue the character.
This might feel like it's already been done since a light version of this is basically just the intro to ME2.
@@sechura3698 exactly
It would be horrible. Every character, including Shepard's LI, dead, only for Shepard to come back and for WHAT?!
@@ericaugust1501 No, no the fuck it's not! It would be better to simply kill Shepard off than force them and the player into such a terrible situation.
I think first date makes more sense, just couple years after ME3. That way they can still bring back a lot of familiar characters to the game.
But I also like the theory that the Normandy's engine gets destroyed and they are running out of air so they are forced to go into cryo-sleep until someone finds them again. That way the whole team can "travel in time" to any point in the future.
The best command so far
this makes sense because its imposible to see angara and garrus in 1 pic because turrians live like humans cca 150 max so with this it would be possible and Shepard in cryo sleep because of injuries then he wakes up healed and goes to find normandy and everyone else just frozen.
1.Control ending and/or Geth saved Shepard's consciousness and that's a synth Shepard.
2.Andromeda has a Dyson Sphere and nanotech that builds machines with thought.
I think that person we saw in the teaser is not Shepard its someone else investigating with a new team with Wrex Grunt Liara. And they just happen to find parts of Shepard armor along the way.
My original theory was that Shepard was simply injured beyond saving by technology at the time and Liara, unable to accept that, put them in cryostasis until they could be saved. My current theory is that it wasn’t just usual damage but something unique that happened to Shepard. Something to do with Reaper tech, which still led to them being put into stasis (or even darker as a test subject by others instead of liara using it to save them).
My reasoning for this is that it would explain how Shepard could have abilities like Rider did in Andromeda. The gameplay element was the best improvement made in that game and I don’t think they’ll abandon that. I think that they get thawed because they can finally save them or either Liara discovers them if the darker test subject theory is proven.
I think we need at least one more game with the Normandy crew,as a proper sendoff. Besides,I want to see the perfect destroy ending actually lead to my Shep reuniting with Tali in-game,not just assume that it happens.
Hasn't been said enough
@@2b_or_not_2b_4gottenrannoch reminds me of reach from halo
What if Shepard was found at the destroy ending but was so badly injured that there wasn't the technology to heal Shepherd immediately without spending absurd amounts of money like Cerberus...
So instead Shepherd was frozen for who knows how long until Shepherd could be more easily healed...
This way shepherd would be learning about this new era at the same time as us...
Wouldn’t that mean the likable characters from the trilogy died of old age (except for the asari)?
@@axelnilsson5124 unfortunately it looks like that's going to happen either way...
@@TheImmortalBloodwolf that sucks unless the surviving crewmembers from the trilogy froze themselves to continue working with Shepard
@@TheImmortalBloodwolf Why would it?
Nah, horrible idea. That means every character from the trilogy except for Liara and maybe Grunt and Wrex, would be gone. Absolutely nobody wants that. If they went for that, it would've been better if Shepard stayed dead.
There is an easy solution to this for me. Shepard is either alive or dead depending on the individual ME3 ending, but you don't necessarily play as him. If he's alive, you interact with him as a superior and/or friend, similar to how captain Anderson was or even Hacket. Or even that you're a companion on his team and he's a non-playable lead character.
If he died for you in ME3, that person is someone else (maybe someone from the crew, maybe someone entirely different)
Also if he's alive, there is a bonus mission or two (or a DLC) where you play as Shepard. This could be Shepard from the past, immediately after the end of ME3, or in some other context.
I think this method does a good job in satisfying either camp. If you want him to be alive, this gives you closure, and if you want him dead, he's dead.
100% agreed. Even better if you are not part of his crew (to avoid the "one-up" the other situation), but still a background caracter, and Ideally have 1 or 2 level where you can play as him. I think the best solution would be to play as Shepard's child with the original trilogy's love interest (in case of alien, either human clone with some of the love interest DNA mixed in where compatible, or an adopted orphan after the Reaper War).
It's also a perfect pretext to bring back the rest of the crew, even if some are likely too old for field work :
- Aunt Tali
- Uncle Urdnot
- Grunt (who's like a brother somehow)
- Sir Vakarian (who's the CO of your ship, under Shepard's request)
- God-mother Miranda
- God-father Moreau (also call Sir Moreau, head of the Alliance flight academy)
- Jackie
- Commander Vega
etc
Shepard, take it or leave it Bioware 😇
Here's my theory: DA bombs and EA shuts down BioWare.
The likely course of action. The layoffs have already begun at Bioware and DA hasn't even released yet.
good riddance too, it's not like anyone noteworthy still works at that shell of a studio.
Yep, that's the most likely scenario. DA was rebooted so many times, so much production issues, changing of directors and stuff, none of the old writers. The chances of it being decent are less then 1%.
That'd be better than butchering Mass Effect further.
@@Pax__man love how casually u shitbags are wanting to people to be out of job
Knowing BioWare's usual development method for their games, they're probably taking as long as they are because they're still trying to figure out what they're even gonna do. These cryptic teasers are probably just to buy them more time as well as potentially let the theorists come up with a story for them. That's just my theory given their BioWare-MagicTM track record.
As you can tell, I'm keeping my expectations EXTREMELY LOW. Not just because of Anthem & Andromeda, but also because this game is going to be continuing off of Mass Effect 3's dumpster fire of an ending. And I can't imagine anything resembling a good story coming from that.
ME 3's ending isn't a dumpster fire
I can buy into this, given that Flemeth was meant to be just this really old, and maybe slightly evil, abomination and it turns out she's one of the original elven "gods" known as Mythal. That's a fan theory that got put into action because it was so juicy. And it fuckin' works too.
@@alukenbachauthor I gotta admit that it would be cool to see Dragon Age world in the ME world. But ehh, probably not.
@@channel45853 You're right...
It's a whole damn burning garbage dump.
With the success of the Legendary Edition...the safest bet for EA is to bring Commander Sheppard back.
Making Destory Canon. It's the easy out for them. It'll be easy money.
But then why is there Geth ? The Catalyst made it perfectly clear all synthetic life would be destroyed. That means no Reapers no Geth no EDI but you clearly see Geth. All of the existing synthetic life would be destroyed. That means no Geth after the destroy option the catalyst made it perfectly clear.
But not everyone chose destroy.
Bioware tried to take into account player choices already and still anger some people when a sexual releases. Them canonizing one of the ME 3 endings wouldn't be easy money, it would lead to mass gamer outrage.
@@channel45853 Exactly you can't have your game franchise be. All every single one of your choices changes something in some way. Permanently in that in game world/universe wich gives that in game universe. Countless possible outcomes an possibilities. Then all of a sudden go remember all those choices you made that effected the first 3 games. Well now they don't matter or count because here's how it all really happened.
That kind of story telling only works in games like Halo because it's a set story. Based game from start to finish you can't do that with how they set up the Mess Effect games from the start. You can't go from every single decision you make matters to the story plot. To a planned out story plot because it would go against all the players choices.
Starting with ME 1 if they go that route an it looks like they did. Because it shows a dead Reaper because I go with the blue control ending 99 present of the time the other 1 percent is the green symphysis ending. So that would mean no dead Reapers going this route will only piss people off. It already has me giving the new game a pass.
We don't have to play as shepard to have him show up in some way
who is we?
Yeah, tbh I'd be fine even with Shepard as some sort of side character. The lack of closure in ME3 was disappointing and I hope we get some in the new game.
@@lmaciulevicius if we go that far, Shepard could be like Anderson was for us, a living legend who is always there to give advice and save our ass when shit got real bad
@@alisontiger10that’s what I would like to see of the game does take place 71 years after me3 then Shepard is only 103 and the cannon age for humans in this universe is 150. That being I would like to see Shepard and garrus have the role Anderson and hacket had in me3
Tali was canon romance and killing all machines was the canon ending prove me wrong, we still need to see Shepard and tali getting married or some sh!t my childhood memories of mass effect can’t just end with 3 it’s painful
Hello my squad members. In ME2 the greybox. You can keep or destroy. The did say if this information ever got out. The Alliance could be destroyed. I never thought about it. But could mean something a secret mission
Except they explain what was on the greybox in ME3.
It's all obvious. Shepard's consciousness has been uploaded to the Geth (which we know is possible). The Jardaan are the baddies as evidenced by the picture of their tech from the teaser images. The character we saw in the trailer is Shepard in his / her new "body". Remember this day when the game is released and you see how wrong I was. ;)
That child with the Stargazer will be the N7 operative that was shown in the trailer.
Finally im not the only one who thinks it. Buuut I also thought something else (I made a comment beforr)
That's actually a great idea, a N7 Operative who's been told countless stories about Shepard, some details may be true, others might be exaggerrated stuff like urban legends
it also gives room for the player to pick which choices they did in the trilogy at the start of the game
@@Cappuccino_Rabbit So Conrad 2.0
Very nice, i rather have that than someone completely new or Rider.
A kid that wishes to be like his hero and in the process of achieving that he or she becomes a better version of thenselfs (or worse depending on your choices)
@@azsumgogo Every Mass Effect fan is a Conrad in itself.
I would like to see Shepard return, continue and finish all the romances and whatnot, we didnt really get a conclusive endings to them because of the situation we were in and all that, and I dont think that conjuring one more story with Shepard and the team in the driving seat would be all that hard, continuing to connect it to Andromeda and set up a sequel to that would also serve well in boosting Andromeda as well. With that being said, I dont think they will do it, it would automatically create pretty high expectations in regards to acknowledging all the player decisions and such which would strain the development right off the bat, tho, if they do choose to go that way, they have ways of getting around a lot of it, many people would be dead after all.
I dont know, its hard to guess and Im not even sure what I would prefer to be honest, tho if Liara does come back as a companion she better not be romanceable by a new protagonist, I dont care how many years have passed she and Shepard were soulmates.
Interesting theory, and I wouldn't mind that timeline, but I do think at some point if Mass Effect if going to survive, they have to figure out a way to have a new protagonist that works.
Theory, humanity was devistated by the reapers. When Shepard destroyed them a massive collection of reaper tech remained on earth.
Humanity is the enemy of the new game. Having mastered reaper tech and traversing the stars again they start dominating the galaxy.
Hence why liara and the council are so concerned about humanity
what mass effect 4 must be acomplish no matther what the story is, is too give us an satisfing end of shepard, a conclusion we can aceept and life on with.
that was the main flaw of the 3 mass effect games because they didn`t give us and ending that is worth it, so we can close up shepards story. shepards story is not finished at all, we just left the scene in a very bad way.
i don`t say it must be an perfect ending where everyone lifes happily after, but an end so we can close the file of shepard with an smile on the face, not with tears in our eyes and a broken heart. that is what mass effect 4 must acomplish, and if i look around in western games and bioware today, i sadly don`t see that happening at all.
and remember if you want too please everyone you end up pleasing nowone.
when i think about that stuff as a whole i can`t imagine such an story with such good characters in western games today.
reason is in the western gaming industry and in western media today politics are pushed down our throats with as much force as possible if we want it or not they don`t care at all. politics before story and characters is what matters most for them today if we like it or not. and ea + bioware are just the same.
so i fear for the day mass effect 4 will be released because of that and even so i fear for dragon age dreadwolf.
western game developers prove again and again that they can`t, not able too anymore and won`t do a good story and good characters anymore because they must push political agendas first above anyhting else.
sry but that is the current state of western games and medias, i don`t and can`t see an escape route here from it.
on top of that, that bioware and ea are us companys makes this even worse.
i can imagine such an story today only from japanese developers and i`am not even joking sadly.
It seems very simple to me: Mass Effect 5 comes after Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect 4: Andromeda. That explains angara as well as Liara, who is very young in Mass Effect 1, so in Mass Effect 5 she could be another matriarch. Liara is also heard in Mass Effect 4 in one of Alec Ryder´s secrets. Storyline probably contains something about perfect Destroy ending and how it influenced the geth. There is a very strong possibility, that the geth with a Reaper code were not destroyded. Why? Because geth could be newly truly alive which was Legion´s dream. Reapers were more than robots, they were synthetic-organic race. In both perfect endings for geth-quarian war geth keep their Reaper code, which made their processing signal improved into fully advanced self aware AI. Reaper code, that is something to take a notice. In the Synthesis ending all creatures (organic and non organic) get similar code which makes them a part of both. And what about the crew in Mass Effect 5? The main character is probably Liara, she is seen in trailer, heard in Mass Effect 4, she cannot die in Mass Effect trilogy (all 4 ,,good" endings), the N7 trailer shows female N7 agent... There is still place for some characters from Mass Effect 4 and two of them could be Ryder siblings. And someone other than Liara from Mass Effect trilogy, who can also survive 600 years thereafter? One character can: Legion. But he is dead or not? Captain Allen from Detroit: Become Human was also surprised meeting robotic android Connor on the roof after he was destroyed saying: "I thought you were dead...", and Connor answered: "Androids don´t die, captain". Legion as very important and familiar character in the geth plot... Only question is whether Legion could be a member of the team or the final boss??? Geth with Reaper code could continue Reaper legacy if not their very existence. Think about it: Reapers were not destroyed, only deactivated. In the Horizon: Zero Dawn the whole swarm of machines, that took control over Earth and destroyed all life in the past were in one point deactivated by the subordinate function MINERVA, but few centuries after the whole swarm, which looked like derelict and harmless, was almost restored by the subordinate function HADES. Reapers could be retrurned... Besides Legion could try to assume control over unknown Reaper technology... Geth in Mass Effect 5, not destroyed, Reaper code, Legion, how it could be possible? It could and not even Shepard died in Mass Effect 2 (and Mass Effect 3). And revive a human is not so likely, but restore a robot? Quite probably... So the geth in the Mass Effect 5 poster? Certainly Legion.
I guess it is very possible that Shepard will come back. 1: Time is not a linear thing and why shouldn't a way exists to travel to a point in the univerese which is in the future? If you have played ME:A you may get an Idea how it will work. The Geth made a possible to get data from the planets in Andromeda which are not over 600 years old. I believe that the geth will have a solution for that. And 2: the benefactor! He/She is the unknown but I get this feeling that it was the Illusive man. That is the reason why Cerberus will still play a big part in the next game. I believe that Cerberus know what is going on in both galaxys. And 3: the relict tec! Meridian showed us what could be possible and with the fear of the scourge, which is dark energy what causes also problems in the milky way I really believe that everything is possible in the next game!
I believe that the dark energy (Scourge) will be the real big problem in the next game and both galaxys need to work together and i'm sure they will find a way. With the rel tec and the Geth they have everything they need! Ohh and don't forget SAM!
Considering cryo tech is well know in this universe, it could be as simple as "we put a large portion of the galaxy population into cryo until we could recover enoght to feed them, Shepard and his team included". BAM you wake up 1000 years later like in Futurama.
But to be fair, ill agree with what many people say here, we dont need to play as Shepard, Shepard could easily take Hackett and Anderson role just give us closure on his story and his LI, thats all we need.
Det jag kommer sakna mest när spelet är ute är dina analyser och teorier. Tack än en gång för bra content!
I think the MC should be Shepard's kids. Whoever he/she ends up with romantically can allow for a wider range in character creation options with half alien kids. I would like to play as a Turian.
That's what i was thinking plus this kid will still have he/she last name "shepard"
"Not everything is as it seems" -> "Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them." - Obi-Wan Kenobi
Maybe the start of the game will be like the interactive comic Genesis. Where you can make a few choices / get told a story and THEN the game starts after getting to say goodbye to the crew one last time and then new threat with the dark engery storyline....
Honestly the Lazarus project clearly worked better than anticipated. The one thing people forget about that breath is that Shepard is still alive after being spaced (by destroying the reapers) and falling down to Earth (Shepard died by the same fate at the beginning of ME2), so while Shepard was significantly injured already, and then reentering Earths' atmosphere they should have died again, but they didn't. And with the reaper tech who knows how long someone could live now, well someone who may have experienced some enhancements courtesy of reaper tech.
One last story about the Shepard would be nice
That's Mass Effect 3
@@channel45853 perfect destroy ending tho
Done right, the next ME game will be a passing of the torch from Shepard to the new MC. How they do that exactly is up for debate until the game comes out.
My personal preference would be a split main character, parts of the game as Shepard, potentially a couple years after ME3, parts as the new MC, far enough in the future that Andromeda can be present.
That way you get your one more story of Shepard but at the same time a new MC for games going forward.
Plot twist - It’s one of the orphans from Conrad Verner’s orphanage in the N7 uniform.
The poster tells me that the geth will play a major role, one might even say a huge impact in the next Mass Effect. Perhaps Shepard allowing Legion to upload the reaper code into the geth will have unforseen consequences. Or perhaps after facing the reaper threat other races of the galaxy will want to get rid of the geth as well since they are also synthetics and only Shepard and his crew will try to stop this from happening. Shepard might even become a rogue spectre just like Seren and the person in the N7 outfit is a new council´s spectre trying to stop Shepard and his crew.
The massive power output that blows up the citadel and destroys the reapers could have warped space and time giving Shephard the Captain America treatment, preserving him in stasis into the future.
Well, we know for a fact that only five Arks and the Nexus left for Andromeda in 2185, just six months before the Reaper War started, however, in the first ME5 trailer, we explicitly hear someone say Ark 6 is away. This means that a sixth Ark left for Andromeda after the Reaper War. This indicates that the poster could very well be a depiction of Shepard and the gang coming together in Andromeda, possibly a few years after the events of Andromeda.
Shepard is eternal cyborg now, God-Emperor. Wh40000 vibes.
Sorry if shepherd isn't back I'm not interested.
It would just be another Andromeda game.
We wanted a game directly after number 3.
Shephard is the game.
If you didn't want to bring him back then might as well just start a new trilogy or something.
I can't see a game without shepherd, if they send him off in number 4 I guess I could accept that but if your bringing back liara and others then you need to bring back shepherd cuz they are part of our crew.
It's like bring back the bulls but no MJ.
UNLESS! We are playing as shepherds child and naturally liara would be the mother.
That I'll accept and be interesting how they carry that.
Even there I'd want to have interractions with Shepard during the game. Not necessarily playable, but at least as an NPC
I think the easiest way to fit that in is if they find Shepard in the perfect destroy ending and place him/her into cryo sleep until they're able to fully fix him or keep him there for them to recover
So no Tali, Garrus, Joker, or anyone who ain't Krogan or Asari ?
Count me out
I think Shepard is coming back because if he wasn’t, letting people think there’s a chance seems like a bad strategy. There’s no way BioWare doesn’t know how much hype there is around the idea that he’ll be in the game and they’ve kind of played into it by being so cryptic about everything. If they let fans get their hopes up like this for so long only for it not to go anywhere, there will definitely be backlash
It's likely a new character. Whenever it's Shepard, Shepard is advertised with default Male Shep but the N7 day leak shows a more feminine body type. So it's likely a new character. I really do want Shepard to come back though. Mass Effect just doesn't feel the same without him and the moments with the crew. As much as I want Shepard to come back though, I know it's most likely a new character. I don't want to get my hopes up of it being Shepard too.
My current theory is that the character is an Asari born to Liara/Shepard, whether your Shepard romanced her or not. That 'gift' scene before end game battle was a joining of sorts? This is me creating theory.
@@1957DLTYeess, that's my theory too! I was going through comments just to find if someone also have thought of that :D Like my current theory for (at least some part of) the story is that Liara's and Shepard's child will go on some sort of scavenger/egg hunt (I don't remember the exact phrasing) to find remains/body of Shep with at least some part of the old squad like Grunt, Liara, Garrus and maybe also Tali (though I don't remember for how long can their species live so that may also be a factor here) and some new faces. And that scean with Liara smiling after finding some piece of Shep's old N7 armor might be the moment when they find them :) would be cool, not gonna lie I would like to play a story like that (with like planet exploring similiar to the first game) ;)
I was thinking it’s too feminine too unless they’re pushing to make femshep the more cannon Shepard
Your quote of one more story gave me an idea. Far fetched sure, but what if by chance they are teasing not just one game but multiple games? A story like you suggested for the Shepard send off we all wanted and it helps bridge the story line into the next trilogy or whatever. It could be like Shep wrapping up loose ends with leviathan and cerberus but getting that hint that something lurks in the dark waiting but our hero has retired so to speak.
this is at the same time best time and worst time being a fan of something you get to speculate about the game or movie but its the worst at the same becasue i cannot wait and i want this game now but bioware take the time you need but i hope if shepard is MC the comeback is some how epicilly done intro scene i mean adn they explain how he/she if he/she survived from ME3. Also if bioware chooces to continue without shepard damn i want to play as shepard daughter or son i don't care if the child is adopted child or legit actual child of shepard we would play it as the child after me3 if child meets lets say Liara they couild talk about shepard and child could ask questions about it and we could get flashbacks and at the same time it could service as fanservice to players who played the original games.
@MrHulthen the way they also can tie the angara being around is if they are brought into the milky way by the Jardaan since they created the Angara, and also the Jardaan could have been the ones that sent the distress signal from Andromeda when they accidentally unleashed the Scourge and potentially fled to the milky way since they haven't been seen in the Heleus Cluster of Andromeda and it was confirmed they left the Heleus Cluster after Meridian was sent adrift and the Scourge was unleashed. So in a way they could still set the story of the new mass effect after Mass Effect 3 and still incorporate elements of Andromeda while leaving Andromeda's main story as its own separate story.
Its actually funny how people forget that the Jardaan created the Angara and the Remnant and we still know very little about this race.
I always thought the Jardann were problably some form of synthetic, just because them trying to understand life by making it ties in with the synthesis ending when the synthetics wanted to understand organic feelings.
I side with the majority of the community on this subject. That Shepard and crew needs to come back and have a real proper conclusion that passes the torch to a new character, setting, or conflict. It's hard to have your franchise continue after one of the worst endings in all of gaming history.
My thoughts exactly. There's nothing wrong with wanting to introduce a new protagonist to the franchise, but with the way ME3 ended, it will just feel as if the devs are dodging around the question of Shepard's fate, unless we get a proper conclusion to their story.
Since BioWare is using the bible, they technically aren't done with the story. People tend to gloss over this, but the Apocalypse is not a war against Satan. It's God judging humanity. The four horsemen, the angels, and creatures that torture humanity, the trials and tribulations, all are done by God. In Mass Effect, the Star Child (Catalyst) is the analog to God, that ultimately hands the decision over to Shepard, which is the analog to Jesus. Remember, Shepard is killed by the mutated Protheons, which are their cycle's "Roman Empire." Just how they kill Jesus in the bible. He's then resurrected via the Lazarus Project and proceeds to unite twelve apostles to set the world on it's path. You know. Mass Effect 2. I'm not sure if we want to consider Saren in the first game as the analog for the antichrist, as technically there is no THE antichrist, but various agents working in favor of the end times. Take that however you need. So ME3 concludes after Shepard brings the twelve races together. Funny thing. One of the twelve tribes in the bible, Benjamin, are nearly wiped out for misdeeds. In Mass Effect the Batarians are also nearly wiped out. Anyways, moving forward. Jesus proceeds to reign on Earth for 1000 years. Why 1000? Oh. Because they never actually FOUGHT Satan during the Apocalypse. After those 1000 years, he comes to Earth in his full form like a Dragon Ball villain. He is finally defeated and cast into the lake of fire, and all sin is purged. So, technically BioWare is lacking an actual "true villain" to finish the Shepard arc. The Reapers and Star Child were not inherently evil or good. They were acting on the idea that they were necessary to keep organics from CAUSING a true evil to occur. So with the Reapers gone, if we go with the destroy option as canon, then this means that "Satan" is now free to make his appearance. So they could jump the Mass Effect story forward many centuries, and then have this real enemy show up. Liara would still be alive, and to explain Shepard still being around? Not too difficult. People forget this man literally entered a geth digital world to help with the Quarians and Geth relations. What if Legion "copied" him while in there. We know the Destroy option could lead to Shepard dying, but it doesn't mean his mind is gone. With the introduction of the Shepard Clone, we are made fully aware that the Shepard we are playing as in ME2 and ME3 is not the original Shepard, but a rebuilt construct. Even his mind was recreated using advanced AI methods. What's to stop them from bringing Shepard back this way in the far future? They've already hinted that the Geth weren't fully destroyed. So long story short, we could easily get a final battle with the Galaxy's true antagonist, Mr Morningstar.
@@leegaul2161 🤔🤯
Who would be Morningstar in ME? The Benefactor? The Jardaan? The Opposition? Someone entirely new?
@@dorottyapapp Whoever caused the scourge.
@@lmaciulevicius you are speaking facts. Every other ending except perfect is less than satisfactory. Really hope they bring him back so we can get a good finale and after that they can whatever,
I always assume that the Milky Way races do achieve everlasting peace after the reaper war regardless of what ending you choose but I guess realistically crime and corruption returns after all the milky way races team up to fight a galaxy wide threat so maybe things go back to normal so to speak afterwards because no other threats or challenge after the reapers except each other but maybe not a power struggle over reaper tech but could be wrong. Idk I just think the Milky Way does gain peace otherwise it does undermine Shepard's story/ player's story with all the games.
I honestly kinda hope it’s a dual narrative using rider and shepard, like imagine playing the first two missions and then you get a cutscene that pans over to andromeda and shows the andromeda crew getting sucked into a wormhole bringing them to the milkyway galaxy in the past after the reaper war (in the perfect destroy ending) therefore explaining Shepard living, the Geth, and the angaran,
and either you choose which character you wanna play as after importing/customizing them and the one you don’t pick is a permanent squadmate or alternatively you have missions where you play as shepard and some where you play as rider.
I hope it’s the first one cus this allows more role play elements and endings and maybe even more squadmates like Me2
The one thing I want at the very least is to see the choices I've made in the first 3 games pay off in the new game. As much as I would like to continue playing as my Commander Shepard, I would be perfectly fine with getting to see how my Shepard and and his friends are doing.
I personally really don't want Shepard to come back. I think it's a HUGE stretch, and way more unbelievable than them dying and getting resurrected by Cerberus. I also believe that their death at the end of Mass Effect 3 was fitting for the legendary character, dying to sacrifice themselves to save the galaxy. The potential for BioWare to ruin Shepard's timeline is way too high and I'd rather just get a great new protagonist with connections to the original trilogy.
True
It may be the design of that N7 outfit and maybe the fact that I loved Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, but I kinda hope this Mass Effect story is more of an espionage thriller in the fallout of the Reaper War. Like you said, a lot of people vying for control of Reaper technology, secret groups working underground to destabilize the galaxy and unravel the peace we thought would come after the galaxy unites during the war.
IMHO.. two hypothesis...
1)Demolition Man situation with shepard being recovered but due to ReaperInducedIllness he got stasised untile a few decades/centuries? later.
The galaxy in turmoil due to the taxation of trade rout....
..i mean reaper tech arms race plus leviathan enslaving species to wage war on the other species.
Shepard have become a legend but also a sleeping beauty situation were he is basically conserved a la "lenin"
You lead a plucky young specter to deal with the situation.. and during a serious and well though first act and second act the entire saga shift in tone,
shenanigans ensue and
"somehow Sovereign returned"
and we need to have an old time spectre to deal with an old time menace.
your hero revive Shepard and from there the game play as basically the citadel DLC, you meet Edi with a red arm for no reason, Shepard have a moody son who wants to be a space pirate because its edgy.. ahahah funny.. ahahah we have no ideas xD xD 🤣
disney destroyed SW.. xD
2) the entire game is shepard fighting the indoctrination process, marauder shield was a lie. Indroctination theory was real. Break out of the Matrix.
Shepard will shout "it's Sheparding time" and will shepard all over the place xD xD
😂
I took 90 as a new calendar based on the end of the Reaper War. Not that it helps much with your time line theory, but that was how I took it.
I don't expect BioWare to release anything good at this point. Mass Effect ended with Mass Effect 3.
If that's the case my head canon is he wakes up goes back and chills
@@spitlikesfire9368 He wakes up, gets found, they rebuild the Relays 'cause big united smarts. The dead are buried and I'm Commander Shepard, about to repopulate Illium and retire.
@@serijas737 idk about illium asari are kinda meh but over all uea
I am someone who doesn't really want Shepard to be the protagonist again. Not for a whole game, at least. I would love for a new game to talk about what Shepard's choice did for the galaxy and maybe see a dlc with them as the protagonist. But really, I just want something new. I do really want to say that I appreciate the approach you took with making this video. I feel like a lot of people are unrealistic about their Shepard's alive theories, and you were good about tempering expectations for what this game could be. I think that the new character is by far the most likely direction for Bioware to go, and even if we wish there was a way for Shepard to work, it's still very unlikely. Idk, I feel like I'm gonna get hate for this but I wanted to say that I liked this.
I probably wouldnt play the game without shepherd returning. We've already tried the new protagonist attempt with andromeda and its no where close to the trilogy. This game will flop sales and review wise without shepherd almost guarantee it.
I’m a bit mixed. The armor looks too cyberpunky. Shepards armor always looked like something humanity would actually make for combat, the new armor looks like something a civilian mercenary might wear when they don’t have money for more than a helmet and chest armor
But if Shepard is the main player character, why would Liara be so excited finding N7 relics?
she's kinky?
Because Liara is remember the good times which let's be honest everyone in Shepard's squad does this in ME2 and ME3 that have been with Shepard because even if it has only been a year or two. They still invoke good or bad memories.
@@masterblaster7953 Like Liara is obsessed, and spends so much on a birthday present or something?:)
That scene strongly suggests that Shepard is lost, and it is really important to find clues about his fate.
Maybe she found the helmet piece before figuring out that Shep is alive. Or another perfect present for commander like his tags
@@juzoliyea, so it stories more looked like findind shepard. Just like Javik where the whole story are linked to Prothean, than it's last survivor only showed up on DLC.
Honestly, I've been wondering if it's not another Shepard Clone, like you see in the Citadel DLC. One that get's brought out when the galaxy needs them, so you get a bit of both. New character trying to carve their own path out of the shadow of their origin, and Shepard.
Time is not linear. The game could start in 2890 for example, but then through an (natural) time space anomaly the protagonists get send back in time ⌚ to the events after Mass Effect 3 and the defeat of the Reapers. Timeline jumping. There they would search for Shepard, because they need him and his skills, maybe even the prothean information in him. They travel back to their respective future time-line with Shepard and maybe with some of the old crew to solve their issues.... in that way Andromeda would have happened and could be included...
THIS PLEASE
Time traveling shenanigans never work. Always develops plot holes all over the place.
@@nunya_bizniz better than abandoning Andromeda or Having to definitively chose an ending
@@gagejohnathan9641 destroy is canon ending
@@nunya_bizniz and it's pretty unambiguous that regardless of what you did to prepare, all Synthetics will die.
Which also begs the question: how is Shepard still alive, last I checked they had tons of cybernetics inside them after cerberus revived them.
Is it possible that the Jardaan created the Angara in their own image? So that's not actually an Angara talking with Liara in the nightclub, but is actually a Jardaan. If it is, they could have theoretically arrived as an envoy anytime after ME3.
No Shepard, no buy. Just not interested in Mass Effect without Shepard, Tali, and Garrus.
Honestly would love either direction. One last hurrah for Sheperd and crew, but also feel like why would they add Angarans to posters? Time travel? And if that is the case would people even want time travel in the Mass Effect Universe? Feel like the game most likely is set in 2890
Commander Shepard, written by Andromeda writers and proofread by Sweet Baby Inc. It will be the greatest comedy in history. Can't wait! 😄
You are a cruel person, lmao.
Remember the mention in Andromeda of the Geth repurposing a ME relay as a FTL telescope. Their tech could be the link between the 2 storylines to create the new game. Also, the new protagonist could be the daughter of Shepard and Liara behind that mask.
My take is that they're just going to keep on releasing cryptic "teasers" until someone like you comes up with a plausible story that links it all together and appeases the fandom
Experience tells that when a strange character is shown in a trailer, it will be a new character, and not some other incarnation of the old one. For example, when Starcraft 2.3 was getting ready to be released, people were wondering what kind of black protoss it was, suggesting that it was Ulrezaj or someone else. And this turned out to be just a new Alarak.
If they wanted to show us the old character, they would have shown him. Just like they did with Liara in the first teaser.
@@2b_or_not_2b_4gotten May be Shep is still somewhere in the game. Actually I don't like cults of personalities. Maybe not a very good example, but in Assassins Creed we have a new hero in each part. And what does it spoil? There are many shortcomings, but this is not one of them. Personally, I would be fine with having Mass Effect with another hero, but the most important thing is quality. To avoid getting Andromeda 2.
@@2b_or_not_2b_4gotten I understand what you talking about but I didn't say that Shepard's absence means his death. In addition, without him, the game could continue as his friends, for example, there could be an awesome sequel in which we play in turn as Garrus, Liara and Tali. In general, I don’t believe in the cult of personality. In reality, it always leads to bad things. Why do the Terminator and Aliens stick to the faces of their actors and characters, while the Predator or Fast and Furious has new heroes every time? Do they lose from this? In the Resident Evil films there is one heroine, but in the games they are different. Which is ultimately better?
If this is Shepard in this teaser trailer then it makes sense why Shepard has a helmet… since there’s two Shepard’s, femshep and broshep.
I really hope Shepard will come back, it wouldn’t fell like mass effect without him and old crew
if your franchise is that reliant on a single character its destined to fail long term. He had a huge saga and his story is done. Time for a new hero.
@@suddenimpulse030 I agree with you as we can see from some examples but for me personally every ending except perfect ending is unsatisfying and what would even be the point of perfect ending if Shepard is alive and not used? Part of problem with repetitive main character can be fixed by adding more side characters. I mean there is a high probability that masked character is main (or maybe side?) character but what if we could get 2 main characters?? Like in gta franchise where you have 1 and then suddenly 3.
@@suddenimpulse030100% agree. It's very poor writing if that's the case. There's certain games that are the character. Tomb Raider, God of War, Hitman ect. But if a big game (as in lore/world such as RPGs) rely on one character then it's just poor world building and unimaginative writing. I'm sure, in fact I remember people being concerned about not playing John Marston in RDR2 and look how that turned out. In fact the worst part of that game was playing him again as it just didn't make sense. A far better choice from both a gameplay and narrative perspective would have been Sadie which is another example. RDR3 would be a lot worse if Arthur either A. Came back to life or B. It turned out he didn't die. It would be poor and lazy writing and completely taken a way from the emotional impact of 2. Playing Sadie in Mexico or something would be a lot better regardless of how much people love Arthur. You could go on. We wouldn't have Soul Reaver if we only played Kain. Imagine playing Altair for 13 games. We'd never have gotten Ezio or Kassandra or Kenway. Imagine playing Claud in ever GTA. Nah it's poor writing that limits potential
@@wm3x7there's too many loopholes and "ifs, buts and maybes". It's just far more reasonable to have a new character. The fact there's a lot of fans asking for Shepard to have been r*ped to justify a certain narrative just shows the literacy gymnastics that people are going through to make something work that quite frankly doesn't warrant the pay off. They already buggered up the ending of 3 and buggered up Andromeda. It's far more likely that they'd do further damage to Shep and co anyway. There's really no indication that the Shephard and story they write would live up to not only the hype but so many peoples different interpretations, desires and own theories about how everything should play out
@@suddenimpulse030 Exactly! Fans have to let go of their sort-term selfish desires to play as Shepard again in order to the Mass Effect Universe to thrive long-term. It could be so much more.
I personally prefer to play 2, 3, 5, 10... more Mass Effect games than just one more with Shep.
Lmao why would even bring up Ryder? Let's just forget about that fiasco...
Bringing Shepard back is the means to survival.
I don't want to raise my hopes up for if Shepherd will return or not... But this is a game that has featured not only that cloning can happen successfully, but also the Lazarus Project.
I mean, even if the game does happen in the long-term future, there is a possibility of a "Lazarus Project 2.0" that could do better than the original project. It could be possible, but at this point anything is and that is the beauty of fiction and science fiction: anything you can imagine can become cannon as long as you want it.
In the end, it's all up to Bioware what kind of story they want to tell.
so is the correct ending to ME3 that Shepard opts to control?
I'd like to think the Shepard used the destroy option - this would account for the destroyed Reapers and the end of ME3 shows he survives this. Perhaps the old man telling his "grandson" the stories of the Shepard, is in fact Shepard himself.
But through the "destroy" option, all AI life is destroyed, including the Geth - so that doesn't make sense either if the Geth are back.
They do need to rewrite the ending in any case and whst the fans would eat best us destroying only the reapers.
Old man is Shepard? It’s a cool idea but it makes zero sense to others who have played as femshep…
Control is obviously the bad choice. We know from the VI on Thessia that Kai Leng is indoctrinated, and that the Prothean attempts to build the Crucible were thwarted by a Cerberus-like group of Protheans who wished to control the Reapers, like the Illusive Man did. If Kai Leng is indoctrinated, we know that the Illusive Man must surely be, which means Control is the ending that the Reapers want-because it isn't control at all. The Prothean VIs clearly can detect indoctrination, we know that Vigil on Ilos could tell that Saren was indoctrinated, and the Prothean VI on Thessia was if anything even more sophisticated. Destroy is clearly the only rational ending, the only one that makes sense with everything that had gone before. Synthesis is just absurd and should never have been considered as an option. The idea that forcibly causing all life everywhere to become techno-organic hybrids is the 'best' ending is laughably insane.
If we get to see tali and garrus again im happy, if not, that’s ok too, I just need a memorial in the hub of the galaxy for Sheperd and the crew that has passed on, never forget the greatest man who untied almost an entire galaxy to fight the greatest threat and win!
I noticed something about the N7 day 2023 trailer. The track playing in it is a sample from ME3 soundtrack "Aralakh Company", which is the name of the team led by Grunt. Could this mean the Krogan that seems to be in the background is actually Grunt?
I would prefer a story like where we play a descendant of shepard... Either sn Asari or human.
But the protagonist isn't a cut out soldier, but after 700 years, the shepard name has slowly become less and less prestigious as Shepards like turned to obscurity... And then comes you, a Young hotshot criminal on Omega 3 joining a merc band.
The mercenary missions could be tutorial until you get your own ship, after you Discover an ominous artifact related to the geth, and in some way, to the reapers. Still having a sense of duty, you try to make the citadel listen... But to no avail so you to figure It out on your own with your team.
It turns out, the geth heretics are back on the lose due to geth acquired autonomy... But later on, you start fighting also other species revealing the resurgence of a reaper cult, that manage to re-awaken a reaper, but still not combat ready.
They can retcon the timeskip. Andromeda travelers don't actually know if the timeskip really happened. The Benefactor may have easily lied for people to not try coming back.
The Milkyway engineers & scientists (or leftovers of Andromeda Initiative) can find a way to travel *to and from* Andromeda quickly (since we can manufacture mass relays now) and also them back.
Also, Mass Effect 4 has to be successful. I don't think EA will allow them to risk losing the publicity of Shepard. Most people hated Ryder simply because "he wasn't Shepard", not just because of his lacking leadership skills. Incorporating Andromeda is a huge risk by itself.
People are not getting it. The voice in the encrypted audio is not only Liara but also Shepard. Liara’s VA has a raspy voice. Shepard’s does not. Can’t believe it’s gone this long without being noticed
Shepard should obviously be the main character again, and hopefully we don't need to mod the game again for LGBT romance. In any case, Mass Effect is a space soap opera first and foremost, a shooter next. So yes, the beloved well written characters are the key for a good story. If this is another prequel I'm gonna pass.
Perhaps the Illusive Man had a contingency when he rebuilt Shepard. We all know he liked his backup plans. He created an AI of Shepherd's personality from a brain scan upload or something when Maranda was rebuilding them to fall back on if Shepherd didn't survive or was killed again. When Mass Effect 3 happend, The AI was forgotten/lost for whatever reason. Queue Liara as the Shadow Broker stumbling across this hidden AI. Something is happening in the Galaxy and she decides she needs to bring Shepherd back in an EDI style form.
We are waiting for his return!!!
I know there're tons of posts and videos about the indoctrination theory, but everytime I see the cutscene at 7:32 it reminds me of the original endings (prior to the "cryout fix/patch") because the original endings made the final act elusive, like a dream - as if Shepard was fighting indocrination after getting severely knocked down and injured before reaching the conduit to the Citadel on Earth. And to fix that ending and shape Mass Effect 4 as a new storyline centered around Shepard and the Reapers again (for true closure) all it would take is to return the player to that point in time as a prelude, and make something happen to the reapers in front of the beacon (like a bombardment from the Normandy at Harbinger) to allow Shepard's rescue (like his team mates' intervention in any capacity/sacrifice) or lead the squad to the completion of the mission into the beacon and then make the final act the real deal like it should have been.
For an opening act in a new sequel, fixing the underwhelming endings from ME3 (that was thought unfixable) would feel epic and rewarding in ME4, as well as canonizing the indoctrination theory. I mean... the signs were all over the game like premonition, including the end choices "right or wrong", "paragon or renegade" (the colors swapped: blue to control and save the reapers and red to destroy them). Besides, the control and synthesis endings make no sense for continuity. The synthesis ending as explained by Harbinger's avatar (the little boy) sounds ilogical, just another form of control by giving away every organic lifeform to the reapers through the merge (organic + synthetic), without their indoctrination methods. Those two endings (control and synthesis) would mess up the new storyline or create discontinuity, imo.
I want BD Shepard back. At the very least, I want him as old man shep and his wife (tali) to be training the new generation of N7 recruits, the protagonist being one of them.
Biggest question is, Mark Meer signed on to this or nah?
Hoping they don't pull a Venom Snake and get an entirely new voice actor if Shepard is returned.
Shepard's story is done. It makes no sense to bring her/him back. Move along.
There is no Mass Effect without Shepard & the crew. They’d be safer to return Shep as a protagonist, tbh. Ryder twins didn’t land too well with Andromeda, and Bioware has to nail this ME game if they want to gain back community goodwill & trust.
Besides, BW let it slip about Shep & the rest picking up the pieces after the war in that geth crater poster description. Only has to indicate that Shep is coming back.
Andromeda should remain an independent spin-off, if you ask me. Its races can travel to Milky Way, but keep everything else (characters included) out of main ME games
I see two exits here:
1. Either we get a heavy retcon/Ex Machina taken out of their sweet posterior to piece all of this together.
2. There's no new ME because the new DA whomps hard, which may be the case taking into account the gameplay preview of that DA.
I know it sounds very pessimistic, but the gaming industry teached me to have low expectations, that way it doesn't hurt when it doesn't go well, and get happier when it does :]
Honestly I would love a blank slate. One of the things I loved about the series was building up Shepard's notoriety from basically zero. Shepard starts out as someone with potential but not really well known outside of the Alliance. Over the course of the games Shepard becomes a great hero.
In this new game I don't want to start out as some badass, I want to be someone unknown with a lot of talent/potential, and need to work my way up and gain the respect of people like Shepard's former squadmates.
They have the Scourge, which could very easily be weaponized/ super concentrated dark energy, which is KNOWN to screw with time (see also Haestrom's sun, Conrad Verner's essay war asset in ME3), RIGHT THERE, so if there aren't time travel shenanigans to merge the two games I'm rewriting the plot
Few extra bits I'd like to throw in which might/might not be useful:
- Regarding nightclub scene: IF it is Garrus (which I think we all know it is) then WHO is the human he is talking to? Would likely be someone he is familiar with and therefore central to the plot?
- N7 2023 video: maybe a bit of a leap but looking at the size/build of the person Garrus is talking to.. could the mystery nightclub person? Reinforcing that this person might be the new protagonist. To add to your bit about 'cerbereus yellow', the helmet looks 100000% Cerberus - see the helmet designs for Cerb Engineers/Shadows - so to me feels obvious there's some Cerb involvement there.
- From teasers & looking at nightclub again: Seems obvious Liara is looking for Shep/Reaper Tech/Geth, but that she is planned to have a Geth assistant. Reinforced by both the recording and the way the Geth is fully in a 'bodyguard' role standing by her table.
- Two Krogan (Grunt & Wrex), a Salaraian and a Volus.. but NO drell, other asari, batarians, quarians: maybe the choice of background aliens is just 'set dressing', but maybe it's also trying to draw specific attention to the ones it DOES show
- Angara: this is a leap, a very big leap, but.. relay gate superweapon, distress call, Angara angrily shouting at Liara (is a real Angara? Or a symbolic one?). Knowing we've been told that they want to tie into Andromeda, perhaps in canon the Andromeda arks don't establish long term and a call is sent back to the Milky Way to come rescue the Arks & Angara from whatever crisis has befallen them
Sadly they cant continue like they do in Dragon Age in different region or at least they tried in Andromeda.
I think a 200-400 year time jump is the logical conclusion as the impact of player choices from earlier games would be minimal in the new game due to the time difference.
Honestly.i genuinely hope that Shepard does not return. As much as Andromeda was super underwhelming I do want a new story to follow and not have to explore that galaxy with Sepaerd. We already did that and we don't need to canonize everyone's Shepard into a one mixed version.
Plus Mass Effect isn't about only the humans or comander Shepard. That's just me though.
Agreed
You are in the extreme minority and thanks for that
i have no idea what they are going to do. I would love to play as shepard again but if angara arre there then it is very unlikely unless cerberus finds shepard and freezes him in cryostasis for over 600 years...