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BioWare ponders 'sequel or prequel' with new Mass Effect, asks fans
Posted: 20.11.2012 13:09 by Simon Priest Comments: 18
Casey Hudson of BioWare has asked for the opinion of the fans on whether the studio should be looking to events taking place "before the trilogy, or after?" So far the consensus points forward.

A sequel would likely mean the team will have to factor in many player decisions throughout the trilogy, while a prequel would only be constrained to already established canon.

The new Mass Effect, which is said to be avoiding a Shephard-like formula, is already on the receiving end of fan feedback as Casey Hudson requested community ideas.

"Parsing through your thoughts on the next #ME game. Would you be more interested in a game that takes place before the trilogy, or after?" tweeted the Mass Effect franchise boss. The new RPG in the sci-fi series is already a radical departure from the trilogy as they adopt DICE's Frostbite 2 engine to power it, the same as with Dragon Age III's development. Whilst said to 'maintain the spirit' of Mass Effect, BioWare want something fresh.

The next Mass Effect "will be very respectful of the heritage built over the course of the first three games, with the original trilogy now concluded and the switch over to a new engine, we are exploring new directions, both on the gameplay and story fronts," said BioWare Montreal's Yanick Roy in October.

"You can still expect the pillars the franchise is known for to be fully intact though, including diverse alien races, a huge galaxy to explore, and of course rich, cinematic storytelling." It was Mass Effect that introduced the 'dialogue wheel' that has made the series so easily recognisable to video gamers.

Source: Eurogamer

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Comments

By LukeDion1987 (SI Veteran Member) on Nov 20, 2012
LukeDion1987
Of course sequel!!! ;-)
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Nov 20, 2012
Xyfer117
Sequel!
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Nov 20, 2012
SirRoderick
I must say I'd love to see some prequel stuff, going into the major galactic civs without the whole doomsday scenario could be great. Of course a sequel has a pretty good setting in the whole "Rebuilding civilization" setup, so no worries if they go that way ^^
By PapVogel (SI Member) on Nov 20, 2012
PapVogel
Actually I'd rather explore the past of the mass effect universe, like the first contact war or something like that.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Nov 20, 2012
SirRoderick
I would second the first contact war, I've said before that I'd LOVE to see that covered.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 20, 2012
herodotus
So few are interested in delving into the history and Lore of the series? Curious and a sad reflection on thinking today. I'd vote for a prequel every time.
By PapVogel (SI Member) on Nov 21, 2012
PapVogel
Thing is that with a sequel, there's not much to go on, reaper threat is done with, and you'd basically need 3 different games depending on the choices from ME3 as the endings actually produce 3 vastly different sequel opportunities. Yeah you got some rebuilding going, maybe some infighting..

So either a series running parallel to ME 1-3 or a prequel, maybe even go waaay back to when humanity first discovered the mass relays. Now that could be an awesome story following the first contact scenarios, politics, diplomacy...
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Nov 21, 2012
HenoKutus
Defenitly sequel!!
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Nov 21, 2012
SirRoderick
Why do people want a sequel so much?
By PapVogel (SI Member) on Nov 21, 2012
PapVogel
Probably hoping for the return of Shepard...
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Nov 22, 2012
Xyfer117
I'm not interested in Sheppard's return, but I'd like to see the aftermath and consequences of everything that happened throughout the trilogy, yes people have made different decisions as theyve played it but Bioware will have a storyline which they consider to be the true ME story and they would likely use that to go off.
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Nov 22, 2012
HenoKutus
Maybe a 100 years into the future,they repair the mass relays,an accident happens and they discover another multiverse with an enemy more powerfull than they could imagine and discover these other alien races wich they know nothing about.Maybe they should make an charachter of the Recon ship who takes the journey first and make it so you could choose you're own captain with the different races that we know!
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 22, 2012
herodotus
So no one would be interested in seeking the roots of Saren's turnin to the 'Dark Side' and the resurgence of the Reapers, indeed their very Genesis if it went back that far? So much Lore to be explored, and back stories to be uncovered. Play the mission where the Admiral is betrayed by Saren, perhaps even as Saren or find exactly how and why the human race was quickly inducted.
Endless material to work with that is already there for the plundering. The "Battlestar Galactica" series is doing it with "Blood and Chrome", so far pretty darn well, so it's all the trend...
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Nov 23, 2012
Xyfer117
I see what you're sayng Hero and yes that would be cool prequels just seem a bit "typical" to me these days with every film and game scraping background character information together to make prequels, if they did both that would be fine with me :)
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Nov 23, 2012
HenoKutus
Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome series are excellent but every episode lasts only 10 minutes,a bit of a shame,they should make this series at full episode length and it would probably be the Nr 1 scifi series for the moment.As for Mass Effect i think it would be more interesting to go into the future because there already 3 digital novels that exist and comics and they are already telling the story and you have also the codex pages in every Mass Effect that explain a lot,as for Saren,most people will think logically that he was indoctrinated by Sovereign in the first Mass Effect,nothing to discover there.A sequel would be more interesting if they use all the information that we already now and use it to expand our known universe,also they could use the Asari that we al know for example Liara as a Matriarch because the Asari get really old unlike the other charachters that we know.But its up to Bioware and they have a lot of experience with Mass Effect to not fuck it up,only time will tell!
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Nov 23, 2012
SirRoderick
But it doesn't have to be a prequel. There is no need whatsover to have any connection to the ME storyline at all, or Shepard. Just a copletely different game set in the same universe at some earlier date.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 23, 2012
herodotus
You mean, like in a galaxy, ahhh far, far away?
By HenoKutus (SI Core) on Nov 25, 2012
HenoKutus
Where no man has gone before!