http://www.oxm.co.uk/38485/mass-effect-4-to-be-a-prequel-bioware-looking-at-mass-effect-race-histories/

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/334474/bioware-on-mass-effect-4-potential-still-plenty-of-stories-to-tell/

"If you boot up Mass Effect 3 and look through the codices you'll see we have tonnes and tonnes of backstory. Obviously, for Mass Effect 3 it's Shepard's story and this is where Shepard's story finishes, but the future is wide open for what we can possibly do."

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http://www.computerandvideogames.com/334529/bioware-keep-your-mass-effect-3-saves-just-in-case/

BioWare's Mike Gamble has told GamerZines that players should probably hold onto their Mass Effect 3 save files, because you never know what may come in future.

"Obviously I can't say anything, but it wouldn't be a bad idea," he said.

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Obviously obviously. The universe they've built is interesting and they should continue doing Mass Effect games but not about Shepard/Shepard's crew. I'd welcome something from the universe that is not a third-person view shooter.

i hope its not a third-person shooter too. i hope its got elves and sword and stuff like that so its a proper RPG like what its supposed to be and stuff

Why would your mind go to prequel or what happens to Shepard's crew?

There's a galaxy man...

A whole goddamn galaxy.

It wouldn't make sense to use your saves for a prequel since the saves describe what you do in the future and so it wouldn't matter.

Now a game in the universe where you play as someone else than Shepard that takes place after Mass Effect 3 could use the save data to shape how some of the world would be like / look.

@Village_Guy said:

It wouldn't make sense to use your saves for a prequel since the saves describe what you do in the future and so it wouldn't matter.

Now a game in the universe where you play as someone else than Shepard that takes place after Mass Effect 3 could use the save data to shape how some of the world would be like / look.

Which is what they (mostly) did with Dragon Age II, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did it again.

There will probably be quite a lot of conflicts even after the Reapers are defeated (?) and the galaxy tries to rebuild what was destroyed, so a save would definitely add a lot of depth to a new series featuring someone else than Shepard.

New IP plz, Bioware. Historical fiction setting.

Uh...right.

No, I bet it's just going to be some extra armor or some different guns for the next Mass Effect game after 3. Personally, I hope for a spin-off from the series where you play as a Krogan merc. By that I mean I want to play as Wrex. Maybe with some open-world elements. Eh, one can only hope.

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer.
 
Dibs on Wrex.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer. Dibs on Wrex.

You forgot to mention that it's class based.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer. Dibs on Wrex.

You forgot to mention that it's class based.

@HaltIamReptar said:

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer. Dibs on Wrex.

You forgot to mention that it's class based.

And it all takes place in a multiplayer online battle arena.

Makes sense. It would be completely insane for them to abandon the universe after 3; I'm sure we'll be playing many more Mass Effect games in the future.

@HaltIamReptar said:

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer. Dibs on Wrex.

You forgot to mention that it's class based.

And it all takes place in a multiplayer online battle arena.

@Village_Guy said:

It wouldn't make sense to use your saves for a prequel since the saves describe what you do in the future and so it wouldn't matter.

Now a game in the universe where you play as someone else than Shepard that takes place after Mass Effect 3 could use the save data to shape how some of the world would be like / look.

No, they could do something that had young Shepard show up momentarily, and even something as simple as checking what your Shepard's gender was would improve on that. I may just use default male Shepard, but lots of people don't, and would probably be upset over them just using default male Shepard.

Of course, that's a pretty minor use, and really it could be a save from any of the ME games, and it'd just be easier to not have a young Shepard cameo in the first place.

Or maybe it'd be a side story. I wouldn't mind playing a game about something like what Garrus did between ME1 and ME2, or maybe a game about other Specters during the events of the game. Prequel is an ill-defined word. But a post ME3 game would probably be the most interesting story wise.

I love how when initially developing the first Mass Effect they had a trilogy in mind. Success + EA = more sequels/prequels/spin-offs/onine multiplayer. I'm out after ME3.

Bring it on. When something's as awesome as ME, it takes a hell of a lot more than 3 games over 5 years to over do it.

This could go back to the protheans in me4

I'm expecting a FPS or actual linear 3PS where you play as Vega or something, to be honest.

I'm sure there'll be other RPGs, but EA will be thinking 'brand' and there's cheaper ways to make money.

...not that I'm necessarily against that, as a story-driven FPS set in that universe could be quite cool, and it's not like there's a tonne of quality sci-fi FPSes at the moment.

It's going to be a turn-based anime-styled spinoff. Think Final Fantasy in the Mass Effect universe.

I just made a whole lot of Bioware fans cringe.

@Jimbo said:

New IP plz, Bioware. Historical fiction setting.

This please.

You guys, if they make a prequel it's going to the be First Contact War. And it'll probably be released alongside the movie (which was said to be about the First Contact War).

I hope this isn't true. I love mass effect. But come onnnnnnn

It wouldn't make sense to use your saves for a prequel since the saves describe what you do in the future and so it wouldn't matter.

Now a game in the universe where you play as someone else than Shepard that takes place after Mass Effect 3 could use the save data to shape how some of the world would be like / look.

It wouldn't make sense to use your saves for a prequel since the saves describe what you do in the future and so it wouldn't matter.

It could be set after ME3. The setting could be something like" Without the reapers committing genocide all the galaxy's civilizations have had time to expand and technology is far more advanced than ever before." Basically the galaxy has gone completely fucking bananas without the resetting of the galactic community by the reapers.

I'm still waiting on my Baldur's Gate --> Neverwinter Nights save game import...

I'm fine with whatever they do with Mass Effect after 3, so long as they make it good and don't turn it into some Modern Warfare kind of cash-in stuff. The second I get that vibe, I'm out. But I love the universe and the fiction. They have plenty to draw on from making it a prequel or a sequel (sans Shepard), including multiple books to do something Halo: Reach style.

Can we just focus on Mass Effect 3, please?

I have a question. If I have a save file from Mass Effect 2 and did 3 new game plus but didn't finish it. Will decisions carry over or do I have to finish it?

Let's wait until the third game comes out before we start this crazy speculating about a fourth game.

Bring it on. I look forward to more adventures in the ME universe. Just don't fuck it up Bioware.

@OtakuGamer said:

Mass Effect is EA's Star Wars.

So what you're saying is, Mass Effect 4 will be a prequel in which Shepard is an obnoxious child, and there will be a racing minigame for some reason?

@believer258 said:

It's going to be a turn-based anime-styled spinoff. Think Final Fantasy in the Mass Effect universe.

I just made a whole lot of Bioware fans cringe.

Why does it have to be anime-styled to be turn-based? Why can't we just have an awesome sci-fi RPG/Strategy game, real time or turn based, without including a whole bunch of off-putting crapity crap? I mean, thats pretty much what SMT: Strange Journey did, and it was awesome! Mass Effect could do a small spinoff game (possibly downloadable) that experiments with a different gameplay style while exploring a different part of the story.

@Alkaiser said:

@believer258 said:

It's going to be a turn-based anime-styled spinoff. Think Final Fantasy in the Mass Effect universe.

I just made a whole lot of Bioware fans cringe.

Why does it have to be anime-styled to be turn-based? Why can't we just have an awesome sci-fi RPG/Strategy game, real time or turn based, without including a whole bunch of off-putting crapity crap? I mean, thats pretty much what SMT: Strange Journey did, and it was awesome! Mass Effect could do a small spinoff game (possibly downloadable) that experiments with a different gameplay style while exploring a different part of the story.

What I was saying was a joke. As in, not serious at all. I was going for absurdity, and a Mass Effect game which is rendered to look like anime and uses a turn-based battle system a la 16-bit JRPG's is an absurdly far cry from the RPG/Gears of War mix-up the third one is shaping up to be.

Meanwhile, "turn-based" and "JRPG" almost go hand in hand, though there probably are some turn-based Western RPG's that I don't know of.

@believer258 said:

@Alkaiser said:

@believer258 said:

It's going to be a turn-based anime-styled spinoff. Think Final Fantasy in the Mass Effect universe.

I just made a whole lot of Bioware fans cringe.

Why does it have to be anime-styled to be turn-based? Why can't we just have an awesome sci-fi RPG/Strategy game, real time or turn based, without including a whole bunch of off-putting crapity crap? I mean, thats pretty much what SMT: Strange Journey did, and it was awesome! Mass Effect could do a small spinoff game (possibly downloadable) that experiments with a different gameplay style while exploring a different part of the story.

What I was saying was a joke. As in, not serious at all. I was going for absurdity, and a Mass Effect game which is rendered to look like anime and uses a turn-based battle system a la 16-bit JRPG's is an absurdly far cry from the RPG/Gears of War mix-up the third one is shaping up to be.

Meanwhile, "turn-based" and "JRPG" almost go hand in hand, though there probably are some turn-based Western RPG's that I don't know of.

Uh, I assumed you were saying that tounge-in-cheek. I wasn't trying to take a shot at you or anything, I just wanted to use it as a jumping off point for something that kinda bothers me with genres I like. For example, I really like the combat of say a Tales of Symphonia/Eternia/whateveria game but don't give a damn about anything else the game has to offer. Meanwhile, I don't really like shooters but Mass Effect is totally rad from an aesthetics standpoint. I'm just dying for someone to experiment and merge the good parts of both.

I think what I'm getting at is that I want a new Final Fantasy Tactics made by Bioware.

@Alkaiser said:

@believer258 said:

@Alkaiser said:

@believer258 said:

It's going to be a turn-based anime-styled spinoff. Think Final Fantasy in the Mass Effect universe.

I just made a whole lot of Bioware fans cringe.

Why does it have to be anime-styled to be turn-based? Why can't we just have an awesome sci-fi RPG/Strategy game, real time or turn based, without including a whole bunch of off-putting crapity crap? I mean, thats pretty much what SMT: Strange Journey did, and it was awesome! Mass Effect could do a small spinoff game (possibly downloadable) that experiments with a different gameplay style while exploring a different part of the story.

What I was saying was a joke. As in, not serious at all. I was going for absurdity, and a Mass Effect game which is rendered to look like anime and uses a turn-based battle system a la 16-bit JRPG's is an absurdly far cry from the RPG/Gears of War mix-up the third one is shaping up to be.

Meanwhile, "turn-based" and "JRPG" almost go hand in hand, though there probably are some turn-based Western RPG's that I don't know of.

Uh, I assumed you were saying that tounge-in-cheek. I wasn't trying to take a shot at you or anything, I just wanted to use it as a jumping off point for something that kinda bothers me with genres I like. For example, I really like the combat of say a Tales of Symphonia/Eternia/whateveria game but don't give a damn about anything else the game has to offer. Meanwhile, I don't really like shooters but Mass Effect is totally rad from an aesthetics standpoint. I'm just dying for someone to experiment and merge the good parts of both.

I think what I'm getting at is that I want a new Final Fantasy Tactics made by Bioware.

Ooops. My mistake.

Anyway, I guess I'm the opposite. I want an anime aesthetic with Western gameplay. It also must be devoid of annoying team pets.

A RTS based in the First Contact War. Humans and Turians. Your save unlocks a special hero uint of Sheppard.

M4ss Effect.

I swear, I have to do all the work around here...

My Magical Elcor Adventure

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

Trading Card Based Team Turn Based Kart Racer. Dibs on Wrex.

I hate trading cards. I hate teams. I hate kart racers. But I LOOOOOOOOOVE Wrex.

....Ok I'm in.