Mass Effect After ME3

We all know that given the overall success of the Mass Effect trilogy that we can expect a 4th game and probably even more. With EA at the top I think we can expect the series to continue indefinitely as long as it makes big profits since that is what EA wants more than anything and that could be one of the rare times EA could make us happy. I think we have speculated everything we can for the ending of ME3 so really we can talk more but it's so close to the DLC that I think it'd be cool to speculate on what could make a 4th ME game one we'd all like to invest in.

I would like to see Shepard take on a role away from us. I want to have us go a route similar to on Stargate Atlantis. Let's find a dead Reaper and have scientists investigate it. After enough investigation they could contact the Geth to have them help out with making the dead Reaper into a functional ship we can use and the Geth could basically remove the Reaper presence and we could have a Geth take the role that EDI played. Maybe our replacement for Legion. This ship could be commanded by a scientist and the bulk of the crew should be scientists and similar. I would prefer the military presence to be minimal. I don't want another hoorah Normandy full of soldiers and fighters. I'd like to see the series take a new direction more on exploration and advancement than more big explosions.

I think it would be a good reveal if it's revealed that the Leviathan never were harvested but instead some of their own willingly sacrificed to create some Reapers. The Leviathan could then be merely conducting experiments for millions of years using the Reapers. Instead of the excuses to look for ways to end chaos, Leviathan could be merely the true masters merely experimenting. The harvest could be their way of ensure no civilization becomes advanced enough to be a real threat. The decision chamber and indoctrination could be tests also. The goal of this 4th ME could be to learn more, explore more. We could have a crew of all species and not have it be a human based ship although I'd assume we'll be stuck playing as a human again since it's logical and probably cost efficient from a developer point of view.

This could add truly infinite possibilities to the series. We don't need big explosions and trillions of dead people to tell a story that people can get sucked in by. Here's one big reason I think this would be the best choice for Bioware. Reaper indoctrination seems to take time and it destroys a person's mind. Indoctrination needs to be subtle and slow to avoid ruining the person being indoctrinated so it really doesn't seem efficient. Remember how Leviathan uses their mind control? They controlled Shepard without any effort 100%. The Leviathan controlled people for 10 years and once the artifact was destroyed those people went back to normal and were not brain dead at all. I believe Leviathan should be the true masters and it seems their mind control is infinitely better than indoctrination because they can do it stronger and if they release someone the person is normal again and not brain dead.

I know we may not get something like this but I believe it could bring new life into the series and even be so awesome as to remove past hate for the original ME3 endings. I know it would be 2 or 3 years of waiting for it to be made but people will remember the ME3 endings. If IT is revealed or not, that won't matter with this idea as this can take place afterwards but revealing IT could make this much easier to implement with less potential outcomes to deal with.

Very interesting points!

First of all, I would argue that indoctrination is more subtle and indeed more powerful than the Leviathan enthrallment. Indoctrination leaves the victim nearly as capable as they were prior to being manipulated while enthrallment seems to eliminate any conscious control from the victim, thus reducing their usefulness. Signs of enthrallment are quite obvious after beginning a conversation with the victim, while indoctrinated agents are nearly perfectly concealed from suspicion.

Anyway, enough about that. As far as the direction of Mass Effect, I would think, at least the next one would have to go small, tight, and focused. It can hardly go any bigger than the first three games (save an INVASION FROM ANOTHER GALAXY!!!1!!), so I think it will be more in the vein of ME2 than one or three.

I really like your idea of a science team exploring the galaxy and trying to unravel a mystery of some sort. Perhaps in that regard it could hearken back to the exploratory elements in ME1 after all.

Regardless of the narrative direction it takes, I hope more than anything that the basic framework of Mass Effect as we know it thus far is retained. I want: a customizable main character, decisions and consequences, deep relationships, and combat straight out of ME3.

I didn't think about the fact that indoctrinated people can still act normal but I cannot think of any time that the Reapers use indoctrination to have a strong effect as Leviathan did. If indoctrination is powerful then the Reapers could have simply forced Shepard to submit to them for whatever they had planned for Shepard but instead Shepard is able to fight it. Shepard was powerless against the Leviathan. Shepard had to reason with the Leviathan to be released to continue fighting the Reapers which seemed to be in the best interest of the Leviathan.

We could still have the customizable main character, choices, consequences, relationships, combat, exploration etc. I just think the series needs to step away from the military aspect a bit because this is not about only the humans. If it were more of a science ship but with some soldiers, guards or whatever then it could be a non-military vessel. I'd like our characters to do great things but not be expected to be the galaxy's savior like Shepard was. Shepard was made out to be far more important than should be realistically believed.

It's been proven throughout the series that squadmates do not need to be military to fight good so our main character should not need to be some super military godlike badass Shepard to be able to fight enemies and do great things. I doubt they would add a lot of exploration back but maybe they could try to find a good mixture of all 3 games.

I have said it before, but the end of Mass Effect 3 will bring significant changes and instability to the galaxy as it struggles to recover following the war.

Internal struggles like what the Salarian's might be going through, a shifting of the power balance and a generally war torn galaxy trying to get back on its feet could make an interesting setting to navigate.

Play it smart and you wont need a villain per see either, the conflicts which will undoubtedly arise as borders are redrawn and fleets rebuild could cause enough tension and conflict to give reason to someone, a new protagonist navigating the galaxy.

Angles to use could be trying to stabilize the galaxy, diffuse the conflicts before they become a new war or using the chaos to expand ones own interests, playing sides and trying to gain for yourself.

One could easily imagine an opportunist player in such an environment emerging on the other side of the game as a new power factor all to his own, either as a new Cerberus style organization or something more like the Shadow Broker.

Also just for the record on the Leviathan's. Their mind control power is powerful yes, but we know about it and more importantly we got working shielding against their harmful effects.

Not saying they might not turn up to be a big threat with the Reapers gone, but I personally don't see them as anywhere near the Reapers and frankly I don't think this series need a "new, bigger villain" waiting to emerge...we have the Galaxy Exterminating Cthulu Space Ships, leave them as that and try a new approach to a threat.

Assuming the Reaper threat is gone and that we actually have a galaxy with stories worth to be told (e.g. NOT Synthesis/Control), there are several possibilities how future games could work.

In general, I have to agree that repeating the story of a galactic threat and some sort of space messiah would not really fit and would just be a rehash of the original story.

Furthermore the military aspect has already been used a lot. I could see some sort of special tactics team though. Focusing more on infiltration (Splinter Cell type), sabotage and information gathering rather than head-on combat.
But this is just a gameplay issue.

Storywise, I think a post-war scenario is perfect for a smaller scaled story. A lot of potential conflicts and the best thing is, there has not to be a clear cut good vs. evil, but a lot of shades of grey (pun intended). As Raistlin already pointed out, maneuvering through all the different factions' politics/agendas and trying to find your way through could be material for a really interesting story.
And a new set of characters would also refresh the franchise, showing the old characters in cameos or sideroles.

Yea.. I think they need a new cast of characters. I like the characters from the ME series but I'd rather not see Bioware kill off more of them. I did like Shepard but in some ways Shepard made the galaxy look weak. Too much put on one person took away from others. We had our big dramatic trilogy, I'd like to see a smaller scale story. I see this issue with movies and tv shows though. They keep raising the bar time and time again until they can't go any higher and sometimes great tv shows or movies ends before they should have, same could be said about a game series like Mass Effect.

I just hope if they make a 4th one that it isn't so military based. Bioware imo made the Reaper threat too big to the point that it caused this ending to be so unbelievable and so unsatisfying that many people disliked it. Even by Sci-Fi standards, the Reapers are a bit of a stretch. I really enjoyed the series but I have to admit the Reaper aspect was not in my top 5 things I liked most about the series. I just felt the Reapers were over played and played out to be bigger and badder than they really should have been.

Bioware had their vision and ME3 imo still was a good game aside from the decision chamber. I hope they'll take a different direction if they make a 4th game. Less military and soliders but not remove them completely just make it more of a civilian ship like on ME2 I guess. ME2 I felt was great because we could do shit at our own pace, how we wanted to. The only mission we had to do a certain way was the Reaper IFF and I mean as in once you do that one then you're set to complete the game or have some of the crew die.

I remember one play through I got Legion asap and took him on Tali's recruitment mission which was funny and also on her loyalty mission which I thought was awesome lol. Some of the dialogue there taking a Geth onto a Quarian ship, it was priceless imo. ME3 was too linear I felt. I'd like a ME game to take more rpg elements as in giving us the freedom to do quests we want in whatever order we want aside from a few main story quests that have to be done in a certain order.