User blog:Rusty650/About the Idea of "Mass Effect 4"

About me: Just for you to know about me before reading this very long blog. I honestly never played the Mass Effect series. I watched the whole gameplay, from main missions, side missions, and dlc, from a guy named tetraninja from youtube. When I first started watching Mass Effect 1, it was the best game I have ever seen. From making your own character and then shaping him/her into your vision and personality, I thought it was very cool. After I was done watching Mass Effect 1 I was really excited to see Mass Effect 2. The intro was the best intro to any game. I liked the idea of "loyalty" missions because it allows you to know your squad mates more deeply. I say "loyalty" in quotation marks because I feel like Shepard wasn't trying to be "loyal" to his squad mates but in fact get to know them better. When Mass Effect 2 was done, I heard rumors that the ending to Mass Effect 3 was bad. At first I didn't believe it. I just ignored it and started watching the gameplay. When the end finally came, there were a lot of questions that I wanted answers to, even though I never played the game, like why didn't Shepard mention how the Geth and Quarians were able to solve their differences and get along. Later I found out that there was an Extended Cut DLC. Still it didn't bring "clarity" and "understanding" to the ending. I watched this video, by AngryJoeShow, that basically said "10 Reasons We Hate Mass Effect 3's Ending". Pretty self explanatory. It talks about 10 questions that didn't get answered. When the Extended Cut DLC came out, it was so weird that the DLC ONLY answered those 10 questions and nothing else. I watched videos about the "Indoctrination Theory". I don't believe against or for it personally. So yeah that is my background on this blog. And please don't call me a fan boy for just watching the series. 'Cause Mass Effect has opened my eyes to how videos games should interact with the player and viewer.

Mass Effect 4?: Bioware is announcing that the new Mass Effect game will not be called "Mass Effect 4" but instead it's going to be called "Mass Effect' and then something after it. Now think about this, not calling the next Mass Effect "Mass Effect 4" would basically trash the whole series for what it stands for.

I have been on Google News everyday looking for an updated article on "Mass Effect 4". One article asked people, anyone, for some ideas for the new Mass Effect. The Majority asked for a continuation of Shepard's story.

Keep thinking about this 'cause I'm going to reference it in the following categories.

Indoctrination Theory: Personally I think it is proven true and false. Yeah I know right. Well the Indoctrination Theory has 2 parts to it. 1)Bioware did it on purpose to leave a cliffhanger. Well the answer is more likely no. Why you may ask. Well Bioware is not confirming it or denying it. But it still leans to no because think about, they released a DLC that was to "clarify" the ending and are not willing to talk about the ending or the Indoctrination Theory. 2)If Shepard was Indoctrinated you can start Mass Effect 4 from the point when Shepard starts breathing. The Indoctrination Theory was developed in order to make any sense for the ending. People think that the Indoctrination Theory is talking about the whole ending, but is in fact keeping the ending and scrapping any parts that don't make any sense, for the Indoctrinations Theory and the "real" ending.

Why a "prequel" and "sequel" is a bad idea: Well lets start with the "prequel" idea. 1) It would make no sense on why we should go back in time. I can't find any evidence on why. 2)It would make the first 3 games out of place and you will loose the overall consistency. Think about, would you like to jump back into the past and learn about something that is referenced in the series? Now lets talk about the "sequel" idea. 1)After playing many hours and getting emotionally attached to the characters and the character that you chose to romance, Bioware is making you to detach yourself from those characters and settle in with new ones. 2)Even if the "sequel" will be shortly after Mass Effect 3, it is still going to be something new and unfamiliar. You may be saying "well new and unfamiliar is good". My answer is that ok I understand but think about this. Are you willing to through away all those hours in the series, that you spent in order to understand the game better, and start something new? Let me rephrase that question. Is there anything in the series, from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 3, that isn't explained and you would like to know more? Is that better? If not then ask me in the comments and I will answer your question.

Using Squad Mates or a New Character for "Mass Effect 4": Lets start with something simple by talking about using Squad Mates. 1)Lets start with James and Javik since people will like to know more about. Well all you know about James is that he is going to join the N7 program. What else is there to tell about after he finishes the program? 2) We already know Javik's story just by the Ashes DLC. Why would you want to go back and play as Javik? What else is there we want to know more about him? Squad Mates: 1) every single character that is in your squad, you know a lot about them from Mass Effect 1 all the way to Mass Effect 3. 2) Yeah I can see that maybe some squad mates should be "developed" more but that would make a short and boring game. New Character: 1) One of the biggest problems with creating a new character in a series, like Mass Effect, will is how are you going to introduce him/her? What I mean is, is the new character going to be in the "prequel" or "sequel"? What I mean is that you can't bring in a new character with the series without making it disturbing the flow of the previous games, Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 3.

Why keep Commander Shepard and continue his story: 1) Like all of us, Shepard is us, the player. Yeah I know, crazy right. Shepard is not one of "those" characters that you can just throw away after X amount of games. Shepard has a lot more room for more development. (Shepard is constantly changing)

About the Ending: Yeah I know you heard about everything on why the ending is bad, but I want to bring up 2 scenes. 1) When Shepard takes a breathe. We all know about the "secret" ending where you pick destroy and you see Shepard take a breathe. This scene is telling the player that Shepard is not dead and the fight continues. 2) The Stargazer and the child. We see another scene where the child asks the Stargazer for another story about Shepard. The Stargazers says one more story. This is the strongest evidence that shows that Shepard's story is not complete. And therefore Mass Effect 4 should be about Shepard.

Mass Effect fans talk about the series: There is a video on youtube, by RetakeME3, that is about 1 hour long asking these 3 simple questions: 1)How were you feeling about Mass Effect 3 pre-launch? 2)If you could choose one word to describe how the endings left you feeling what would it be and why? 3)If you could say one thing to the people who worked on Mass Effect what would it be? Lets look at the first question: A lot of people said that they were super excited to the point where they could not stop thinking about it. Some re-watched every trailer. When the game came out, people were scared about not being able to buy the game. Lets look at the second question: Here are just a couple of words that people said: empty, frustrated and even some people said that they couldn't describe how they felt in one word. One girl even said when the game was over and it showed the message saying to buy DLC's to continue Shepard's legacy, she just turned her Xbox off and went to bed. Lets look at question 3: Surprisingly a lot of people said thank you to Bioware for making a great series but also wanted Bioware to fix the ending because they felt that Shepard didn't deserve it.

Obvious and not so obvious questions: 1)Why did the Extended Cut DLC have a slideshow? The Extended Cut DLC was to "clarify" and make the ending more "understandable". If anything, the DLC opened new questions. 2)What is the purpose of the message at the end saying that you should buy DLC's to continue Shepard's legacy? First lets start with the message saying to buy DLC's to continue Shepard's legacy. You would think that the DLC's would continue Shepard's story after the ending. 3)Why wasn't the Omega DLC included in Mass Effect 3? When you talk to Aria at the Citadel, she says that Omega was taken over by Cerberus. Why make it into a DLC if you heard about it. Wouldn't Shepard wanted to help Aria without the DLC? 4)What happens to the person that Shepard romances? I know for a fact that if Shepard romances Liara that they talk about having kids. I and the people want to see Shepard take his relationship with that person much further and develop more.

Well if you read the whole blog, then pat yourselves on the back. Really. Go ahead. If you have any questions please write it in the comments. Ask anything and I will answer them right away. I just want to let you know that this blog is unbiased. If I misunderstood something or even if you disagree with me, write it in the comments.

I just want to ask you one more question: If "Mass Effect 4" comes out in 2014 and it does not include Shepard and Mass Effect 3's ending is not fixed, Are you still willing to buy it? How will it make you feel? Most important how will it make the fans, that are mad about Mass Effect 3's ending, feel?