Rumor: Mass Effect at E3, Is Called Mass Effect: Contact

I wouldn't mind a real prequel ...say, set during the Prothean culling (we'd get to see our favorite aliens as cavemen) or even earlier. Where yes we know how it ends but there would still be drama and events left unexplored in a rich setting. Hell, the Protheans had their isht together so they likely had centuries if not millennia of conflicts before the Reapers (like their conflict with their version of the Geth). I suppose alternatives might include some other threat coming, set in a galaxy a few centuries in the future that is so large that no matter what your decisions in Mass Effect were, the universe is largely the same. So the Reapers are likely all gone (or all BACK), Geth/Quarian, Krogan/Rachni all have their values set the same regardless. All wiped out is the easiest, but just as possible to be hugely reduced in number and just fill in fluff for why (wiped out but brought back a little through benevolent science, weren't helped and slowly dying off, etc). Another would be going full on sci-fi and have a time travel or alt dimensional version of Mass Effect's story.

I personally would like a smaller story where your crew might be awesome badasses but not tasked with saving all life in the galaxy. I would like a Star Trek story, where a crew is tasked with re exploring space following the Reapers.

Fuck that. I don't want another intergalactic war, I want a smaller scale game, that makes each character feel more meaningful. This always seemed like the most likely choice though.

I'm not sure tech advancement works like that in ME. Otherwise they were fighting with spears in the Rachni Wars 2,000 years ago. Using alien artifacts to boost tech to a certain level seems to work, but since all the necessary steps along the way weren't learned to really understand the scientific underpinnings, it seems to stunt their progression much beyond that.

I know what you mean and would like that as well, but it's still possible this could be the case. Could be a military story about a squad or unit and still have those connections.

I was absolutely gutted when Mass Effect Revelation fast forwarded a bunch of years after the prologue. It had set up the First Contact war perfectly, and then misses out a load of years and picks back up long after the fact. It was such a horrible tease. The First Contact War seems like one of the most interesting events in the Mass Effect fiction, and I'd love to see it in more detail.

@artisanbreads said:

That's something to hope for I suppose, though personally I'm not sure they understand what people like about Mass Effect.

This time of year is the worst. Just a bunch of E3 fake news garbage.

I'd much rather see a sequel of sorts with all new characters and a different plot that acknowledges but largely ignores the implications of that shitacular ending to Mass Effect 3. They've established a huge universe to play in. Now let's see them expand upon that rather than contract it to a goddamned prequel series.

Mass Effect: Unable to Please Anyone

I give them some slack. I think they've had a lot of feedback and this is an all new team. The universe is great so I'll be optimistic.

I think Dragon Age Inquisition looks very good so far too, that helps my confidence.

Came in to ctrl+f Jodie Foster. Wasn't disappointed.

Didn't Jodie Foster wind surfing with alien dad? My memory seems really bad on the end of the movie.

Another way to think about the discontentment is that doing "the prequel" is very predictable especially if one believes that it is a cynical cash grab. I would have actually applauded if they went with something like "Set in the Reaper Wars in a far off colony, a small crew fights to save a few thousand from the invading Reapers...." They should go back to telling a tighter story with a smaller cast but keep the stakes very high where I felt the writers at Bioware lost their way trying to go "super huge in every way".