User blog comment:Reaper Salvation/Mass Effect 4- Sequal Prequal or something else/@comment-11209678-20140121043547

I would really hate to be the writers for the next Mass Effect game. In fact, I'd be cursing Mac Walters and Casey Hudson with every word I wrote. The problem is that those two really boxed in the series as for what you can do going forward. It almost seems as if they were truly not planning to make any more Mass Effect games (at least not for a very long time, like the next, next generation). First of all, in Mass Effect 3, there are instances where entire races can be wiped out. To me, this is the most serious issue that needs to be dealt with because it means selecting some kind of a canon storyline. The most obvious races to that can be wiped out are quarians and the geth, but you can also say that the krogan could be eliminated, or at least be in a completely different situation. I expect this game to be on a next gen console, which should allow the writers a little more flexibility with choosing events to be canon because I would guess that transferring gamesaves will not be possible. However, I would expect some kind of comic strip opening that would allow us to indicate some of the choices we made in previous games. The next problem is the role of the Reapers. Personally, I think this problem is easily remedied. They're either destroyed, or you can say that they went to dark space or the galactic core after helping rebuild civilzation. The next problem relates to the previously mentioned problems. This problem is the synthesis ending in how it changed the appearance of organics and synthetics alike. I think this can be remedied by saying that the exterior effects subsided over time and the synthesis can now only be detected by medical testing.

As for a prequel, I think there are many issues there as well. The main issue is how do you make what is going on seem important, when players will already know what happens in the future. One thing that I think all Mass Effect fans love is the depth of the universe and the well constructed backstory. Unfortunately, in the case of a prequel, this would really limit what you could do because the major events of the galaxy are well documented and we know how they turn out. It would have to be something that is highly secretive that has enormous consequence. It would most likely be something like Mass Effect 2's main mission. Something that Reaper Salvation mentioned that intrigues me is the League of One. I think this could potentially be on the right track as they were highly secretive. The main issue for me is that it is before humanity. As a human, I like playing as humans, or at least having humans in the game. It gives me people I relate to. In my opinion, I find the salarians to be the least relatable species with their short lifespans, frail makeup, matriarchial society(no offense ladies), amphibian biology, and finally an apparent lack of sex drive. So I wouldn't use the League of One, but I'd probably use some sort of similar group when constructing a story for a prequel.