Topic: The next Mass Effect

@FuriousMachine My apologises I should have noticed that this has already been brought up. Yeah hopefully you are right, this is much like the senior art designer has leaving Marathon because his job is essentially done. I hope nothing more then great things for the game.

@Oram77 No worries My impression is that Ohlen has been itching to get into tabletop for a while (they have several videos showing them playing an Exodus tabletop campaign, for example) and I wouldn't be surprised if Ohlen's first tasks in his new position keeps him with the Exodus brand for the time being.
Now, what I do worry about a tiny little bit is that this will turn Archetype into a "one game studio", either through them just dissolving as the leads move on to other things or through simply not expanding beyond making Exodus sequels. Also, I have no idea just how instrumental Ohlen has been in the quality of the projects he's shepherded, so while I'm not worried about this release, it may have a negative impact on future releases. Still, that is so far in the future and I have way too much of more immediate worries, so I'll save that for later ulcers.

I'll be interested to know what other fans of the series think of the next title.

My only experience with the franchise is Andromeda, and is one of the only games I've ever returned to the shop (along with Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls: Online), so maybe it's worth coming back and trying something else in the series.

@DemonStar89 There's little to say about my expectations for the next Mass Effect title that I haven't already said in the previous pages of this thread, so until new information surfaces, I'll leave it to others to share their thoughts.
As for Andromeda, while it is hardly the shining beacon of the series, many of us enjoyed it for what it was. Maybe it's simply not your kind of game? There's not enough info to predict what kind of game the next ME will be or what shape it will take (many of us don't even feel all that confident that it will ever materialise) at this point.
Right now it's just a waiting game for most of us and, as this thread has made no secret of, many of us are looking to other games for our "next" Mass Effect "fix" (which is why the thread is titled this way, instead of "Mass Effect 5").
You could always give the Legendary Edition a go, but be warned that the games are showing their age.

@DemonStar89 I'd second that recommendation to start at the beginning (not just with Mass Effect, but with any game series, really). Andromeda was a sprawling epic which attempted to exceed the expectations of folks who'd played through a trilogy of largely linear corridor shooters. Even if you were able to look beyond its lack of polish, and despite its story's standalone intentions, it was still designed as the fourth part of an iterative multi-part saga. Better to start fresh and see how you go. The good news is that the Legendary Edition remasters are frequently on sale for five bucks, which is a real bargain!

@Werehog I appreciate the input.
Seems that Andromeda was somewhat of a departure from the format of the rest of the series.
I caved to marketing and got very excited at the prospect of "Skyrim in Spaaaaace" and just found the gameplay to be entirely uncompelling - I knew it wasn't going to be about magic and dragons by the way, just that type of game is more along the lines of what I expected. It's tricky though, no trailer is an accurate representation of what it's like to play the game.
I found myself wondering why I'd want to keep at it, and when I couldn't satisfactorily answer that question, gave up. That's the beauty of entertainment, video games especially: nobody is obliged to continue with something they're not enjoying. I'm grateful for the privilege of being able to spend my spare hours on fun pixels and sounds.

Quoted for truth. Very nicely put.

Regardless of individual opinion, so long as you hold true to that, you're doing it right.

A bit more footage of Exodus. A strange (and short) selection of gameplay but new bits all the same.

@BearsEatBeets Much like you said, what an odd collection of gameplay clips. I appreciate to see some more though, since I felt the original reveal trailer looked a bit rough. I wasn't sure what to think about it. This obviously still looks rough, but at the same time I can see where they're going with it better and have higher hopes that it'll all come together. I particularly loved the visuals of that second segment! I'm excited to see in the summer. I'm just praying both this and The Expanse are going to land for me. I've been hungry for more competent spacefaring shenanigans for a while now! Yes, not you, Starfield.

@BearsEatBeets You beat me to it They say that they are planning more gameplay drops, "building toward an Extended Gameplay Reveal this summer"

They've posted a full footage breakdown on their site.

This footage goes a long way in confirming that this is the next Mass Effect -like (MassEffLike? MELike?) title I'm looking for. Me like, indeed

Sooo... I'm going to need this right about now. Spring 2027 can't come soon enough. How much zoplicone do I need to take to rush through the next year?

@Tjuz I don't know, how long would it take someone who hasn't played any Mass Effect games but has them all to play them?

@GirlVersusGame For the first three games, I think about 30 hours a piece (give or take) is a reasonable assumption. I think that's about how long each of my first playthroughs lasted, but it might be a bit higher for ME2 and ME3 with all the DLC included in the Legendary Edition. Highly recommended, though! They remain some of my favourite games ever.

@GirlVersusGame Like @Tjuz says, the ME games aren’t very long by today’s standards. When taken as a whole, the ME 1-3 trilogy is probably like playing one large game like Elden Ring, KCD, or Witcher 3, As fast as you play games you could get through them all in a couple weeks probably. I know you’ve already got some long and epic games going with KCD and Crimson Desert, so you might be planning to complete those first but I think the ME games are great and if the idea interests you then you might like them as a nice bit of variety after spending so much time in the fantasy setting. They’re definitely heavy on the storytelling aspects as opposed to the gameplay, although there’s plenty of third person shooting to mix things up. But their strength, imho, is character development, Sci-Fi story, and forming your own relationships and role playing as your version of Commander Shepherd.

Edit: I’ve been intending to finish a replay of the series for a while now. Maybe some new chatter about the games will motivate me to move them up the list. There’s just so many blasted games to play.

@Th3solution They’re definitely heavy on the storytelling aspects as opposed to the gameplay, although there’s plenty of third person shooting to mix things up. But their strength, imho, is character development, Sci-Fi story, and forming your own relationships and role playing as your version of Commander Shepherd.

• Heavy on story sounds like a mood thing, the stars might need to align for that to happen but never say never. For some odd reason that I can't explain there's some kind of, or was some kind of aversion to space games. It's odd because I love astronomy but for the longest time I didn't want to touch games set in space, No Man's Sky, Space Engineer and Ship Breaker were all in space but I still feel that unknown something when I think about games like Mass Effect. Other than Dragon Age I don't think I've played any Bioware games.

At the same time I thought I'd never play Kingdom Come Deliverance and it's quickly becoming one of my favorite ever games, I might even like it more than some Bethesda games. Those were games and this is an experience, I'll definitely struggle for the words whenever I do finish the game/and it's DLCs, and then have to sum it all up. And then there's the sequel which I did buy. It seems to be one of those games that people either love and celebrate or avoid because it's not for them. Perhaps it's the combat, there's a learning curve there, all speculation of course.

There’s just so many blasted games to play.

• Do you keep a list?

@GirlVersusGame Yes, I do keep a list. Actually I keep a number of lists. I have some some organization to my lists that probably only make sense to me, but they help give me some direction and I rarely feel lost for anything to play. Quite the opposite. I have several in each of my categories to choose from.

@GirlVersusGame @Th3solution For what it's worth, throwing my 2 pence in because the Mass Effect Trilogy is one of my all time favourite gaming experiences.

First off like you I was not and am still not to this day a Sci-Fi boffin. I like Sci-Fi but it's not my go to, I'm much more of a fantasy/medieval type of person. I'm currently playing SW:Outlaws and I like Star Wars but again I'm no Star Wars super fan. But I absolutely adore Mass Effect, it's universe is brilliant, it's history and characters are fantastic and whilst I would say it is very heavily story driven, the gameplay in between, which can be hours depending on how you tackle the story is just really engaging.

They are all 3 definitely worth a playthrough. Hopefully you manage to get to them at some point

@MaulTsir You sort of channeled what I was thinking even before I read your reply. I was thinking I like some Sci-fi like Aliens, Blade Runner, The Abyss and a small handful of space games, Star Wars of course but I'm by no means a super-fan. Then you caught me off guard by saying you adore Mass Effect. I tend to try new genres a lot, to see what sticks if that makes sense. I'm not even sure I've ever played a game like Mass Effect, only Heavy Rain and L.A. Noir come to mind and I doubt they are the same. There must be something to them if you went through all three and not just one of them on a whim. I try to avoid games with heavy stories, I don't always get them and some of the dialogue gets lost in translation but I appreciate the recommendation. It's easier to identify with what you said so maybe, thank you.

@GirlVersusGame Mass Effect 2 is one of my all-time favourite games with an amazing story and I never played the first game as it wasn't available on Playstation until the PS4 remakes came out. ME3 is also a fantastic game with one of the best opening sequences of a game in my opinion.

The series has some of the best companions of any game and it's the relationship you build with them and your Sheperd over the games that makes it so special. There are also some incredible bits of lore and most sci-fi writers would love to have come up with something as interesting as the quarian/geth backstory by itself.

The first game does feel pretty clunky by todays standards, especially the cookie cutter side missions and driving that damn Mako around but overall I think it all holds up really well, even without the nostalgia I have for the games.

@GirlVersusGame I actually went through my playtimes for each Mass Effect playthrough a few days ago out of interest, and yeah. The first time I played through the trilogy the games took me 23 hours, 29 hours and 30 hours respectively. My third and fourth playthrough of ME1 were the longest, clocking out at 31 and 32 hours each. Those were completionist playthroughs, so that's more what you're looking at if you're going to try for a platinum or such. ME2 with its DLC (minus two) on second playthrough launched me to 39 hours, which might just go up from there with you playing the other DLC included as well. ME3 with all of its DLC upon my second playthrough took me a grand total of 52 hours. I didn't realise how much the DLC actually adds onto the playtime! Anyway, just some food for thought since you were interested specifically in how long these games are.