User blog comment:Zaphoney/ME4 Ideas ?/@comment-5687135-20121031212045

I made this post as anonymous earlier, but I hadn’t played the edited ending before then. Now that I have, I’d like to update it and elaborate on some points. Please forgive my wall of text.

What I would like to see for ME4 is a continuation of the story we have now. Not Shepard’s story, but the overall story arch. Place ME’s story a century or two in the future where the races have managed to figure out how the relays work and are beginning to repair them, and stitch together the old territories once more.

Regardless of which ending you picked (destruction, control, or synthesis) you find that organics are increasing the number of synthetic enhancements within them (this is a logical step in the ever growing dependence and melding of technology within a society). You have purist hold-outs denouncing the practice, fully synthesized individuals all trying to make their viewpoints known. This leads to some back ground tension as the disagreements are less about species against other species as it is about whether transforming yourself through the use of technology still makes you human (or asari, or krogan, or what have you). Some purists will tout the Reapers as a warning to those who wish to fully synthesize with technology while sythetiques (misspelled on purpose to denote sythetics, machines who were made that way; and synthetiques, people who have merged with technology for trend, fashion, or pragmatic purposes) point to Shepard who wouldn’t have been around to save the galaxy from the Reapers without the use of synthetics bringing him back to life.

Regardless of which ending you picked, the Reapers wouldn’t have to be around or even play a role in future games. If you destroyed them, they’re gone. If you controlled them, the story could say that Shepard willed them to the very edge of the galaxy to stand guard against other Reaper-like threats. If you synthesized, then synthesis would be more common place than other versions (meaning you may see a few different NPC’s walking around looking synthesized, nothing game changing about that).

Council Space loyalists, the inhabitants of the Terminus Systems and the Attican traverse are all rushing to retake and expand on their old territories which leads to conflict. New alliances have also popped up after being separated from the majority of the galaxy; smaller groups of planets and systems that have also been working to expand their territory and repair the relays. All these factions driving to similar goals under their own banner will eventually culminate into outright conflict.

Instead of being a solider who’s enforcing policy through the barrel of a gun, you could have diplomatic or espionage options in order to help advance your government’s goals during conflicts. Imagine being able to sneak aboard enemy transports and downloading their new relay stations, charts, and supply routes… then sabotaging that information so they’re now useless to their owners. You could be a diplomat, helping other world/faction leaders/councils, earning their trust and then bringing them to the table to broker peace, trade agreements, or even working to bring them into your government’s fold to add to your overall political and military strength. The more people you bring into the fold (or the more enemies you chose to wipe out and whose territory you then take over depending on which route you go) the more resources you have access to, the more/faster you can expand your territory.

While it was pointed out that Bioware will be sticking with a human protagonist, the main thing I’d like to see is the option to play multiple races with the backstory of your character being vague enough to allow for the character to be anything. Shepard’s back story was so vague that if they hadn’t decided he was a human, Shepard could have been anything and it would have worked (just with a different starting race). I’m sure many people would still choose to be a human. After all, it’s easier to associate yourself with something you already are than it is to see yourself as a hulking reptilian brute than lives for a millennia, or as a squat, bulbous creature that needs a specialized suite in order survive outside its natural habitat. Still, having more options in your character selection is never a bad thing. And NPC’s only ever call you Shepard (or whatever the new protagonist will be called) or Commander. There’s no reason they couldn’t also call you Advocate, Senator, Magister, Council Puppet, Agent, etc. The biggest problem with multiple species as possible player characters is that you have to have TWO voice actors for every species (expect Asari) for a male and female. You’d also need two create-a-character options for both sexes. And you would need every other voice actor to have slightly different lines when addressing each sex of each race. It adds a ton of extra work on the development team, but it could be worth it.

I hope you enjoy my ideas for the future of Mass Effect. Whatever happens, I think we should all keep an open mind and try to focus on the positive. So long as we don’t get another ME3 original ending, I think we should be fine. Please feel free to discuss constructively. 