User blog comment:James12708/Possibility of a Mass Effect 4/@comment-94.193.58.109-20120919140238

I think we have to assume that it will be another Commander Shepard story. If the next instalment is to actually be anything like, or as good as ME1, 2 & 3. The indoctrination theory would provide the bases for this. I can't imagine any other game being any good. Something set in the past would reduce the impact of the choices you could make. Something set in the far of future would have too many permutations. If you failed to gather enough war resources or told star child to go frack himself (which lets be honest we all wanted to do), then the reapers would still be a threat. You couldn't have a story based on that & also one based on its opposite, which in itself has a lot of options, Shep the destroyer of synthetics, Shep the saviour of all or God Shep the creator of synthesis. They were just the bigg effects you'd have to write a story for, let alone things like what happened to the Krogan, which in itself would have wide ranging implications for the Galaxy. For me it's indoctrination + a lot of Bioware/EA grovelling lol, or nothing.