BioWare reportedly in early stages of developing next Mass Effect game

[HAL_404]

"BioWare reportedly in early stages of developing next Mass Effect game" ~ Nov 2019

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/bioware-early-stages-next-mass-effect/

any recent updates/news about this one?

Also, is the loot system mentioned in the article what was used in ME Andromeda or will it be some kind of pay scheme?

 

[Puterguru]

Meh... I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

Showing concept art is the least important thing about a Mass Effect game. Not that concept art is unnecessary, but more the major underlying issue about why Andromeda failed is story and characters.
Having a game look like the coolest thing ever graphically is easy. And I'd love to see that Mass Effect esthetic again. But a pretty game isn't necessarily a great game.

 

[Brackle]

I don't know about anyone else, but I have no faith in any bioware game anymore. I LOVE the Mass Effect series.....i just see them fucking it up.

Shit lets not even bring up the next Dragon Age game ugh.

 

[M76]

I actually liked most of Mass Effect Andromeda, it was not a bad game, not even an average game, despite of what it was made out to be by "influencers". Sure there were many things in it that I disliked, but that's mostly the woke influence on it. Like making the asari and human npcs ugly, and the weird representation of gayness. Meaning there were characters that were supposedly gay but never acted like it, as if they changed the character's oreintation after writing it to get woke points.

I still have hope that a new Mass Effect game can be good, if instead of doubling down on the wokeness they forget it and focus on just doing a good game, and put aspirational characters in it, not average joes for the sake of representation.
I don't know where this striving for representation comes from. I never heard a single gamer, or for that matter moviegoer wish for the characters in it to be exactly like them.

 

[Blade-Runner]

I don't know where this striving for representation comes from. I never heard a single gamer, or for that matter moviegoer wish for the characters in it to be exactly like them.

From failed "journalists" who couldn't get a real job straight out of college wanting to inject their hard hitting human interest spin in the hope that one day they might get a real job with some other media outlet. Just like Hollywood, idiotic publishers and developers are pandering to completely the wrong audience, especially considering that some of these hacks can't even play games properly.

 

[Frraksurred]

Frankly I don't want them to make a Mass Effect game right now. So long as they are more concerned about making all the Twitter screamers happy, and not simply making an excellent game, it will end up being crap and further damaging the Franchise. ME1 was made by people with vision and passion, those people are not allowed at BioWare anymore, only 'yes men' who's souls have been crushed into submission. BioWare couldn't make a game indicative of its early years if its business was dependent on it... and it is.

 

[Domingo]

I also liked Andromeda and welcome a return to the ME universe. While the story was a little bit wack (and the version without the Day 1 patch was a mess), it was a better actual game than 1 and 2. Those got a pass because the story was compelling. 3 was shunned because of the last 15 minutes, yet it was the best game of the bunch.

 

[UnknownSouljer]

I also liked Andromeda and welcome a return to the ME universe. While the story was a little bit wack (and the version without the Day 1 patch was a mess), it was a better actual game than 1 and 2. Those got a pass because the story was compelling. 3 was shunned because of the last 15 minutes, yet it was the best game of the bunch.

That's the point though, the story is the most critical element of these games. ME2/3 there was a greater focus on gunplay in game, and as great as that all was it's all easily overlooked when talking about elements of story. I don't go back and play any in the series because I'm interested in the combat mechanics, as fun as Jedi/Space Wizard power fantasies can be.
If your goal is to play a great shooter game, there are tons of FPS' out there. If gameplay is the highest value, then honestly play something else (Hell, Doom and Doom Eternal are right there or Jedi Fallen Order or something if you want force powers). ME is and should be about excellent single player experiences, ultimately about story. That's why Andromeda doesn't get a pass and ME1 does. (As an aside, I really enjoy ME1. I don't personally find any of the 'clunkiness' issues to be a real problem).

Although I do agree with you that people shit on ME3 for 15 minutes at the end when literally everything else leading up to that point was incredibly emotional and excellent. It had some of the strongest moments of character development, it closed a lot of loops. It expanded the universe and story a lot (especially with things like the Leviathan DLC). ME:3 despite its ending was a fantastic game. Too bad most don't remember it that way.

EDIT(s): clarity and expanding thoughts.

 

[HAL_404]

ME1 was made by people with vision and passion, those people are not allowed at BioWare anymore,
only 'yes men' who's souls have been crushed into submission. BioWare couldn't make a game indicative of its early years if its business was dependent on it...
and it is.

some folks did leave it is said under duress, but the same guy that was lead designer for ME1 was the lead designer for the whole series including Andromeda and then Anthem ... Preston Watamaniuk so I don't understand why it eventually evolved into Andromeda ???

https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,27190/

but it was Drew Karpyshyn who wrote the storylines for ME1 and ME2 and others were involved (cut scenes, music, etc)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Karpyshyn

not sure how accurate this following overall write up for ME is but IMO it's worth reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect

Meh... I'll believe it when I see it.

Let me guess ... you're from Missouri ... the Show Me State

 

[MacLeod]

I would love nothing more than a new Mass Effect game but it's like Star Wars...it ain't the same without George Lucas.

Andromeda wasn't a bad game but it was a bad Mass Effect game. Without the creative team, especially Casey Hudson and Drew Karpshyn not to mention Jack Wall and Sam Hulick composing the music, it just won't be the same or even very good.

I know Hudson is back at Bioware so that makes me very hopeful but I'm really hoping he brings back the writers, designers and composers that helped him make Mass Effect the best games in history.

 

[harmattan]

I actually liked most of Mass Effect Andromeda, it was not a bad game, not even an average game, despite of what it was made out to be by "influencers". Sure there were many things in it that I disliked, but that's mostly the woke influence on it. Like making the asari and human npcs ugly, and the weird representation of gayness. Meaning there were characters that were supposedly gay but never acted like it, as if they changed the character's oreintation after writing it to get woke points.

I still have hope that a new Mass Effect game can be good, if instead of doubling down on the wokeness they forget it and focus on just doing a good game, and put aspirational characters in it, not average joes for the sake of representation.
I don't know where this striving for representation comes from. I never heard a single gamer, or for that matter moviegoer wish for the characters in it to be exactly like them.

I really enjoyed Andromeda as well, and felt since my first play through it merited a sequel. I understand the distaste with the constant and awkwardly shoe-horned "wokeness". But this aspect didn't really tarnish the overall experience for me on the whole, the same way I enjoy many games that insert neckbeard/incel and emo themes (when's the last time you didn't play an RPG without a manic pixie dream girl? Or a "crazy" barbarian with a soft side).

I try to take these forced themes as a sign of the current cultural climate and disregard them as long as they dont detract too much from the main story and atmosphere. If I focused on the "American Way" and "We can do it!" themes in a movie like Superman (the 70s one), I'd be missing out on what's otherwise a great film.

 

[M76]

(when's the last time you didn't play an RPG without a manic pixie dream girl? Or a "crazy" barbarian with a soft side).

Except pixie and barbarian are not political. They aren't put in games to get twitter points, they are in games because many people actually like them.
Nowadays it's like they are deliberately omitting things that the "toxic fandom" likes and put in things that they loath. To teach them a lesson I guess? Well the joke is on them, because the only lesson is that people don't want to be preached at trough their entertainment. It's in the name "to entertain".

I try to take these forced themes as a sign of the current cultural climate and disregard them as long as they dont detract too much from the main story and atmosphere. If I focused on the "American Way" and "We can do it!" themes in a movie like Superman (the 70s one), I'd be missing out on what's otherwise a great film.

It didn't yet ruin andromeda, because the SJW stuff was as afterthought in it. But it did ruin the prequel novel uprising. They deliberately gave the reins to an SJW writer, and it shows. After suffering trough about 20% of the book I thrown it out. You could coerce any confession out of people with it. So far the SJWs in gaming were usually in low level positions so they couldn't inject their politics center stage. But god save us all if one becomes a lead designer or writer on a project.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

I really enjoyed Andromeda as well, and felt since my first play through it merited a sequel.

I'll say that the failure of the development team to 'read the tea leaves' with respect to their audience and thus garnering enough ire to convince management to switch away from the property altogether for a time was the most infuriating aspect of the game. The apparent abortion of a novel is a slap in the face.

I didn't feel that the 'wokeness' or 'SJW influence' was at all really an issue in the game; to me, it was hard to miss, but at the same time, I wasn't looking for it.

I played the game through three times straight, last time on the highest difficulty level, with both sexes, and had a blast. The first run was even before the first patch landed, and I had only encountered one bug that required some repeat play.

It's honestly a much better game than credited, and if I'd worked on it, I expect I would have been pretty devastated by the release feedback myself. I get why EA decided to move on.

 

[Flogger23m]

There was a lot more wrong with Andromeda that story, the gameplay took a huge hit as well. Far too long, drawn out, and pointlessness to parts of the game. Mass Effect does need some exploration bits but they shouldn't fill up large swaths of game time. Mass Effect wasn't a scavenging, looting or searching game and that is why it was great. Andromeda muddied that. This meant the story was less relevant, which was fairly weak to.

Still a solid game compared to other similar open world RPG/action hybrids. But the changes are why it will never be as good as the originals. If Bioware can jump off the super long, run around with no context bandwagon it may have hope but I am not counting on it.

Game should be around 20-30 hours (including side content) long with meaningful choices so we can actually get around to a 2nd run through to see how difference actions have different consequences.

 

[Ebernanut]

ME:A had several large worlds and many that were unique and very nice looking, performance was good iirc, and the shooting mechanics were the best of the series IMO but that's pretty much all the good. I wouldn't say it was bad but it certainly isn't good much less iconic like the original 3.

The story would have been garbage even if they weren't hamfisted in pushing an agenda, missions were cookie cutter with repetitive gameplay, and on top of it all the game was buggy. The story was as cartoony as Saints Row 4(which I thought went too far in that direction) but tried to be serious at the same time which just doesn't mesh well. I spent way too much time in that game taking over yet another prefab alien base not to mention too much time staring at a wall or someones knees in conversations. The biggest bug issue I had was clipping issues that had me stuck in terrain or in a couple cases falling through into blue hell.

DA:I was actaully an improvement over DA:2 in almost all ways but the story felt uninspired and really didn't fit the DA universe, gameplay was a bit repetitive, and I found many of the characters unlikable.

Based on those games I expect future Bioware games in that genre to have some bright spots due to being big budget titles but lacking the creativity and flavor of their earlier stuff which isn't surprising since many of the original creative people have left and the ones left have a smaller voice. I do think that EA has tried to learn from some of their failures especially with studios like Bioware but at the same time they're always finding new ways to screw up games(sometimes due to greed and other times just from being out of touch with their audience).

 

[HAL_404]

There was a lot more wrong with Andromeda that story, the gameplay took a huge hit as well. Far too long, drawn out, and pointlessness to parts of the game. Mass Effect does need some exploration bits but they shouldn't fill up large swaths of game time. Mass Effect wasn't a scavenging, looting or searching game and that is why it was great. Andromeda muddied that. This meant the story was less relevant, which was fairly weak to.

Still a solid game compared to other similar open world RPG/action hybrids. But the changes are why it will never be as good as the originals. If Bioware can jump off the super long, run around with no context bandwagon it may have hope but I am not counting on it.

Game should be around 20-30 hours (including side content) long with meaningful choices so we can actually get around to a 2nd run through to see how difference actions have different consequences.

ME:A had several large worlds and many that were unique and very nice looking, performance was good iirc, and the shooting mechanics were the best of the series IMO but that's pretty much all the good. I wouldn't say it was bad but it certainly isn't good much less iconic like the original 3.

The story would have been garbage even if they weren't hamfisted in pushing an agenda, missions were cookie cutter with repetitive gameplay, and on top of it all the game was buggy. The story was as cartoony as Saints Row 4(which I thought went too far in that direction) but tried to be serious at the same time which just doesn't mesh well. I spent way too much time in that game taking over yet another prefab alien base not to mention too much time staring at a wall or someones knees in conversations. The biggest bug issue I had was clipping issues that had me stuck in terrain or in a couple cases falling through into blue hell.

DA:I was actaully an improvement over DA:2 in almost all ways but the story felt uninspired and really didn't fit the DA universe, gameplay was a bit repetitive, and I found many of the characters unlikable.

Based on those games I expect future Bioware games in that genre to have some bright spots due to being big budget titles but lacking the creativity and flavor of their earlier stuff which isn't surprising since many of the original creative people have left and the ones left have a smaller voice. I do think that EA has tried to learn from some of their failures especially with studios like Bioware but at the same time they're always finding new ways to screw up games(sometimes due to greed and other times just from being out of touch with their audience).

exactly

 

[Flogger23m]

I'm also going to say that I think they should work to shorten the length of a single playthrough, but push the difference that choice and consequence has even further. Imagine a 20 hour experience that never lets up story wise, but can be very different in terms of a second play through. End game mission entirely different setting, different end game bosses, middle sections feature vastly alternated maps/missions and even entirely different ones. Maybe 40% of the content would be the same, 20% vastly different, the other 40% entirely different. Imagine playing through a game realizing some decisions you made partway through the story threw your journey off the rails and your character could never accomplish their initial task. Or depending on what you do partway, towards the end of the game one NPC can be an antagonist, or an ally, or just be seen in a quick cameo.

That is what I would like to see, something ground breaking for an action RPG/shooter hybrid. It would pretty much be two games in one really and would be so much better than a 40-60 hour slog of similar side quests popping up one after another. Many games these days are so iterative that you simply never want to replay them because you do the same tasks one too many times throughout as is.

 

[Derangel]

I actually liked most of Mass Effect Andromeda, it was not a bad game, not even an average game, despite of what it was made out to be by "influencers". Sure there were many things in it that I disliked, but that's mostly the woke influence on it. Like making the asari and human npcs ugly, and the weird representation of gayness. Meaning there were characters that were supposedly gay but never acted like it, as if they changed the character's oreintation after writing it to get woke points.

I still have hope that a new Mass Effect game can be good, if instead of doubling down on the wokeness they forget it and focus on just doing a good game, and put aspirational characters in it, not average joes for the sake of representation.
I don't know where this striving for representation comes from. I never heard a single gamer, or for that matter moviegoer wish for the characters in it to be exactly like them.

How, exactly, do you think gay people act?

 

[M76]

How, exactly, do you think gay people act?

They carry themselves differently, they talk differently, they dress differently, and they wear their hair differently. It's not a judgement, it's an observation. Closeted gays don't, but that's irrelevant when we are talking openly gay characters in game.
It's pretty obvious they were going for twitter points, the game even got backlash from woke twitter for incorrect representation, don't you remember?

 

[Derangel]

They carry themselves differently, they talk differently, they dress differently, and they wear their hair differently. It's not a judgement, it's an observation. Closeted gays don't, but that's irrelevant when we are talking openly gay characters in game.
It's pretty obvious they were going for twitter points, the game even got backlash from woke twitter for incorrect representation, don't you remember?

You have absolutely no fucking clue what you are talking about.

 

[M76]

I'm also going to say that I think they should work to shorten the length of a single playthrough, but push the difference that choice and consequence has even further.

It's already been done. It's called DeusEx and it came out in 2000. Some choices in it have consequences 10 hours and half a world later.

Imagine a 20 hour experience that never lets up story wise, but can be very different in terms of a second play through.

Alpha Protocol did that.

End game mission entirely different setting, different end game bosses, middle sections feature vastly alternated maps/missions and even entirely different ones. Maybe 40% of the content would be the same, 20% vastly different, the other 40% entirely different.

Beyond Two Souls tried that, and it failed because people are not ready for different experiences. They think their way is the only way. I've seen so many people bashing that game for being linear, when in reality you were constantly making story altering choices in it.

Imagine playing through a game realizing some decisions you made partway through the story threw your journey off the rails and your character could never accomplish their initial task.

Bad idea, I hate it when games don't tell you the rules upfront. As I hated Metro Exodus for not telling me that if I wanted the good ending I needed to play pacifist. it didn't result in re-playing the game, it resulted in me having a sour taste in my mouth and never touching the game again. Decisions should have consequences, but never consequences that prevent the player from getting at least one of the desirable endings.

Or depending on what you do partway, towards the end of the game one NPC can be an antagonist, or an ally, or just be seen in a quick cameo.

Also done by Alpha Protocol, everyone should really play that game.

That is what I would like to see, something ground breaking for an action RPG/shooter hybrid. It would pretty much be two games in one really and would be so much better than a 40-60 hour slog of similar side quests popping up one after another. Many games these days are so iterative that you simply never want to replay them because you do the same tasks one too many times throughout as is.

Since it has all been done before it wouldn't be ground breaking, but I agree that MMOs sold as a single player experience should die.
RDR2, DA:I, AC:Odyssey, ME:A, they all play like MMOs for the most part, filled with repetitive tasks where the story is just an afterthought in the background.

 

[M76]

You have absolutely no fucking clue what you are talking about.

Being offended doesn't make you right. So you don't remember the backlash or you refuse to remember it?

 

[Derangel]

Being offended doesn't make you right. So you don't remember the backlash or you refuse to remember it?

You are parading stereotypes. Stereotypes are rooted in bigotry and a desire to make people the "other" and breed hatred. While there are definitely gay people that fit various stereotypes, the majority are just people. I guarantee you have been among openly gay people without ever knowing it because sexuality isn't something everyone advertises or brings up in conversation unless it's penitent to that conversation. And don' even try to tell me I'm wrong. I know a whole hell of a lot more about it than you ever will.

The backlash was specifically due to poor writing of a single NPC, due to how Bioware's not great handling of her revealing herself to be trans. The backlash came because it felt like pandering and came off as tone deaf.

 

[Denpepe]

I'm also going to say that I think they should work to shorten the length of a single playthrough, but push the difference that choice and consequence has even further. Imagine a 20 hour experience that never lets up story wise, but can be very different in terms of a second play through. End game mission entirely different setting, different end game bosses, middle sections feature vastly alternated maps/missions and even entirely different ones. Maybe 40% of the content would be the same, 20% vastly different, the other 40% entirely different. Imagine playing through a game realizing some decisions you made partway through the story threw your journey off the rails and your character could never accomplish their initial task. Or depending on what you do partway, towards the end of the game one NPC can be an antagonist, or an ally, or just be seen in a quick cameo.

That is what I would like to see, something ground breaking for an action RPG/shooter hybrid. It would pretty much be two games in one really and would be so much better than a 40-60 hour slog of similar side quests popping up one after another. Many games these days are so iterative that you simply never want to replay them because you do the same tasks one too many times throughout as is.

It's cool idea but how do you make a sequel for something like that? You would have to discard all but one outcome and go from there or you would have to make a sequel so expansive you would get lost in it. But as a one of game it could be great.