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Mass Effect Says Goodbye To Shepard

Oh, don't be too upset. We all knew that Mass Effect 3 was the end of a trilogy and as such, the end of a story arc.

So it might not make much sense to have protagonist Commander Shepard return in any new iteration of the franchise. There's almost no doubt that BioWare will give us a new ME installment at some point and when they do, it'll be a fresh "starting point." Here's what BioWare Montreal producer Fabrice Condominas had to say about the future:

"There is one thing we are absolutely sure of--there will be no more Shepard, and the trilogy is over. This is really our starting point. Now the Mass Effect universe is vast, and very, very rich. So at this point in time, we don't even know what kind of time frame we're going to be in. All we're doing is more gathering ideas from the teams, gathering feedback to see several things."

Trilogies end, main characters go away. We all had to bid Ezio goodbye after three Assassin's Creed installments and this year, we greet Connor for the first time in ACIII. Condominas says they don't want to make "Shepard 2;" they'd rather create something in a "very, very different context." And you know, we're willing to bet the Mass Effect followers are just fine with that. Aren't they...?

Tags: mass effect 4, mass effect sequel, mass effect series, mass effect shepard

10/19/2012 11:22:34 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (19 posts)

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 11:34:31 AM
Reply

Yeah, we know why Shepard isn't returning but what's good about it is the willingness to let a hero go while they are still popular instead of squeezing them to death with spinoffs and prequels.

What's worrisome is that the trend that pushed Mass Effect to shed the more fine-tuning RPG aspects and pressure from popularity could push it right into full on TPS or FPS land.

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Underdog15
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 11:46:34 AM

That's probably a very legitimate concern.

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xenris
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:29:34 PM

I agree world. I would actually be really surprised if it WASNT done in the style of a typical FPS or TPS game.

If you look at the trend within EA, they take franchises and try and do this with them. Dead Space, Mass Effect and Dragon Age are all examples of them gutting what was special about the game and giving it multiplayer elements and making it more streamlined for mass appeal.

It isn't as obvious for Dead space and Mass effect for some people but most people here know I loved the first Dead space and Mass effect games and really didn't care for the sequels because of the direction they took.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:38:46 PM

This is why I can't condone what I see happening in Dead Space 3 by purchasing it. Will it be good and have creepy moments? Yeah but c'mon now, actiony co-op game? Sounds fun but puts an end to what horror is about. The sheer solitude and "what the hell is next?" of DS1 was what made it so strong.

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BikerSaint
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:18:23 PM
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"R.I.P. Commander"

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BTNwarrior
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:24:13 PM
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Give us a Han Solo or Malcolm Reynolds of the Mass Effect universe as the main character. I'm sure alot of people would enjoy that

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xenris
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:26:50 PM
Reply

The whole problem I have with this is that "Shepard" was an idea, and avatar for the player in Mass Effect 1. He was however you wanted him to be, with the only thing you couldn't change being the fact that he well had a mental transmission from a prothean beacon thing.

Shepard became a character in ME2, he became more of a ooh rah soldier, and you could already start to see how they were limiting the dialogue options although it was still good. It felt like in ME2 shepard was no longer an Avatar for the player.

ME3 took this a step further and made him a soldier who was the only one able to save the world, when really what made him special in the first ME was lost completely in the second one. He just because a savior bad ass hero type character.

So for me shepard, that is my shepard died after ME1.

The other concerning part of this interview was they said you would be a soldier. If this is a "new" starting point for Mass Effect, well I can almost guarantee that it will be even more watered down from its RPG roots than ME2 and ME3 were.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was either an FPS or a TPS with no loot and none or very light RPG elements within the game. Wouldn't be surprised either if it had typical FPS or TPS deathmatch multiplayer either.

Time will tell but this is my prediction, that Mass Effect will become an even more streamlined game.

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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 12:31:15 PM

I think that's a safe assumption, the biggest advantage (to them not us) to water it down will be the ability to pump out a 3-5 part series in just as many games with one coming out every year. That maximizes profit inside the peak of new generation with very little effort going into the development. Something like that is easy to do when you have a huge fan base that's going to buy it anyway, it's how Final Fantasy is surviving off crap.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 10/19/2012 12:32:20 PM

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xenris
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 1:35:10 PM

You sing words of truth earth human. Sadly that is exactly where I see it going as well. It could easily turn into an annual series, and it probably will once they figure out how to milk it.

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Lawless SXE
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 7:42:12 PM

I interpreted that "soldier" comment differently to you. To cut the crap out of the sentence to give how I read it: "we don’t want to make Mass Effect 4 with like, ‘oh there’s no more Shepard but you’re a soldier in the universe’."

Not sure if it's just me, but that sort of implies that they viewed Shepard as a soldier and that won't be the forte of their next lead. Here's hoping I'm right and we can maybe get a politician or saintly figure for the new protagonist.

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Jalex
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 2:53:08 PM
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Potentially legitimate concerns and safe assumptions aside, it's actually a little difficult to believe it's been just about half a decade since I first created my female Shepard that I managed to take thru the entire series. And I'm hoping that retaking Omega isn't the last new adventure I have with her.

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ulsterscot
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 10:45:29 PM
Reply

Shooting = good
Dialogue = boring

Therefore ME 3 was the best of the series

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Lawless SXE
Friday, October 19, 2012 @ 11:37:50 PM

Ah, the mindset of a CoDfan. So refreshing...

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xenris
Saturday, October 20, 2012 @ 10:50:37 AM

Sadly your demographic ruined the series for the people it was originally intended for. Well you didn't directly ruin it, but EA decided they wanted you people to play and enjoy it more than the RPG fans even though you already have more shooters than you know what to do with.

Your type will be the catalyst for the distillation of the genres where all games are shooters with RPG lite features and only because they are addictive and carrot like in nature.

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aaronobst
Tuesday, October 23, 2012 @ 12:55:51 AM

haha no way...

You're pulling my leg right?

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ulsterscot
Saturday, October 20, 2012 @ 12:49:44 AM
Reply

yeah - if i want dialogue - i listen to the wife or go down to the pub - but when i want to shoot people - well I might get in a spot of bother if I did that outside of the ps3. Never understand attraction of role playing games - unless it involves a hot chick and no video game system ...

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CrusaderForever
Saturday, October 20, 2012 @ 8:30:28 AM
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Just glad they are coming out with a new Mass Effect!!

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Gamer46
Saturday, October 20, 2012 @ 8:55:23 PM
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I'll believe it when I see it. People at Bioware can say what they want, if the suits at EA decide they want Shepard, and I don't put that past them, Shepard will be back.

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Bariikade
Saturday, October 27, 2012 @ 5:22:12 PM
Reply

Why did Bioware put in an ending where Shepard is alive if its the last time we'll play as Shepard? It doesn't make sense to do that, they should have completely resolved the whole story at the end of the game.

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