New Mass Effect announced!

[Napoléon]

Reaction time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG8V9dRqS...38630745=1

Okay... this? 

This is exactly the direction I was hoping they'd take a new Mass Effect game. Not necessarily a new galaxy to be sure (it will be interesting to see how that goes down), but just in terms of moving on and away from Shepard's story? That's a major positive IMO. I've seen a few comments already being really negative and moaning saying they hope the character in this trailer is Shepard. I couldn't hope any more that it isn't and I'm so pleased it's already been announced that Shepard's story is done. 

And it is done. The last thing the ME franchise needed was any more trampling over the memories and story of Commander Shepard. That whole thing is over. Time to start with a clean slate, and by the looks of this trailer, I couldn't be more happy they've done so (by the looks of it at least).

If I had to guess, I'd say this exploration of a new galaxy is probably brought on by another Reaper threat? Either way, I actually quite like the idea. It will definitely be cool to see what they come up with. I just hope that with this new galaxy they actually replicate the same kind of diversity we saw in the Milky Way, with some interesting aliens. 

Oh and Johnny Cash in the trailer? Nice. Those little doses of humanity are great for Sci-fi. A lot of things like this always seem to forget about shit like that, and just go "super future hurr durr" never mentioning any art, literature or history from humans. Hopefully it's a sign of some other cool references and content.

All in all, I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic with this one. Anyone else?

[abaris]

Not really optimistic. The last Bioware game I really liked was ME2.

Bioware is an EA division now and all the people I put stock in have left the company anyway.

And EA, they're kind of my nemesis. I liked their Formula 1 games when they implemented real physics in the early 2000s. After that they went down the console path, which is already limited by controller limitations.

[Esquilax]

Honestly, I'm happy for any new Mass Effect, but I'm more than a little disappointed that, by the looks of things, we'll be playing as another N7 trained Alliance military officer. I'm not a huge fan of that, as I don't know how much this new character can be differentiated from Shepard while still having the same job, at the same rank, reporting to the same organization. There's so many other places to put a character in this universe, and the wild west feel of the trailer had me hoping we'd get some form of outlaw or someone working independently, rather than another arm of the same military we've already spent three games working for.

I will be interested to see how deeply this new game investigates the consequences of how Shepard's story ended, which is the one thing I'd kinda want to see carry over from one series to the next. I don't even want to know what happened to Shepard specifically, or any of his crew, but just how the rest of the galaxy dealt with her choice at the end of ME3.

[Napoléon]

Not really optimistic. The last Bioware game I really liked was ME2.

Bioware is an EA division now and all the people I put stock in have left the company anyway.

And EA, they're kind of my nemesis. I liked their Formula 1 games when they implemented real physics in the early 2000s. After that they went down the console path, which is already limited by controller limitations.

Bioware is still Bioware. Inquisition is probably one of the best games they've ever produced, minus the rather sucky romances. Romances tend to be hit and miss anyway.

Oh, and I'm a console player, I don't buy into the whole PC master race bullshit. Nor do I think designers go down a 'console path'. People bragged about ME1's combat and how much better the RPG elements were. I think ME1 sucked in that department frankly, I'm glad they went towards more action oriented gameplay. The main RPG features of a Bioware game were still as strong as ever, you just didn't have so much of the inventory management bullshit, which quite honestly I've never seen the big fuss over. You can have RPG customisation without the ancient 'inventory' system IMO.

And for that matter, what exactly are these 'controller limitations' you speak of?

[Regina]

I've only played ME3 but I loved it, so yeah bring this on

I hope we can still edit/create our own characters, I love when you can do that in games These new worlds look pretty cool too

[abaris]

Oh, and I'm a console player, I don't buy into the whole PC master race bullshit.

Yes, that's why you like their products, plain and simple.

I'm not judgmental about it, these games simply aren't for me. As for the controller issues: A controller has only so many buttons, so the UI as well as gameplay options have to be limited to fit that configuration. There are also limitations when it comes to animations and customisation, since they have to fit on one disk.

Another problem is, that PC players usually get abysmal ports without any regards to how PC players are used to control their games. I didn't even consider to buy DA:I after extensively looking at videos on the web and seeing what PC players considered to be the problems.

As for story development, tastes are different. The latest coming from Bioware is the same fetch and carry when it comes to side quests, so many games do these days. I call that approach FedEx simulators and didn't like them with Skyrim either. I'm also not much into the shiny factor so many developers spend so much time and ressources on. Give me content over voice acting and effects and most of all, I don't care one bit about multiplayer, which is all the rage right now. It's tagged on virtually everywhere.

And no, I didn't consider ME 1 combat superior. I liked the story better than the one of ME 2 and much better than the one of ME 3, which was the last Bioware game I bought. Only because I wanted to see the series through, not because I still had hopes for Bioware games being to my liking, after having played only the demo of DA2 without buying, since exploding enemies were enough to put me off. When it comes to ME 1, I also hated the repeated environments, but I loved the character customisation.

So all in all, Bioware, for me, isn't a company anymore to put stock in. It's wait and see, just like with Bethesda.

[bennyboy]

I already know I'll be buying this game. Let's hope it's a game-changer.

[Ashground]

I hope there's little-to-no mention of Shepard or the Reapers. A clean slate. The Mass Effect trilogy are some of my favorite games, I love that they gave something as weird (and horrifying) as Cosmicism such prominence in the story. Best case scenario, we get a story as intelligent as ME1, combat as refined as ME2 and better exploration possibilities than the whole trilogy combined. Worse case scenario, "Oh no, we're trapped in another galaxy!", cue the Mass Effect version of Star Trek Voyager.

[Napoléon]

I'm more than a little disappointed that, by the looks of things, we'll be playing as another N7 trained Alliance military officer.

Not so:

http://kotaku.com/electronic-arts-showed...1711474765

While we aren’t ready to go into too many details just yet, as you saw in the trailer and can tell by the name, this game is very much a new adventure, taking place far away from and long after the events of the original trilogy. You will play a human, male or female, though that’s actually not the character you saw in the trailer (more on that later). You’ll be exploring an all-new galaxy, Andromeda, and piloting the new and improved Mako you saw. And through it all, you will have a new team of adventurers to work with, learn from, fight alongside of, and fall in love with.

[Napoléon]

I hope there's little-to-no mention of Shepard or the Reapers. A clean slate. The Mass Effect trilogy are some of my favorite games, I love that they gave something as weird (and horrifying) as Cosmicism such prominence in the story. Best case scenario, we get a story as intelligent as ME1, combat as refined as ME2 and better exploration possibilities than the whole trilogy combined. Worse case scenario, "Oh no, we're trapped in another galaxy!", cue the Mass Effect version of Star Trek Voyager.

You're going to have some mention of it. You kind of have to really. I just hope it's set farther into the future so that the reapers are just lore/history instead of something fresh that has a big impact on the new story. From what I've read this seems more likely than anything else.