It won't be a sequel or a prequel. It will be an entirely new game and story to the point where whether it is set before or after the trilogy will be irrelevant.

I think it's going to be a prequel, because of the clusterfuck of an ending of ME3. Wouldn't want to write my way out of that, so I guess they don't. While it certainly might be cool in its own right, I'd much prefer a sequel, and in general - fuck prequels! There's just something about the future being unwritten, which a prequel totally spoils.

sequel in terms of galaxy after mass effect 3 ..... so no more Shepard. Its ok , I rather keep exploring the universe than get stuck again in being a system alliance duderette

I'm not sure how they could do a game set after Mass Effect 3 given the completely disparate (and possibly ridiculous) state that the galaxy is left in at the end depending on the player's choice.

Wrex's dating adventures on the Citadel.

is there a feasible way they could make a sequel?

they could just pretend the ending of ME3 never happened i suppose, haven't shows and movies done that before?

anyway i don't care as long as it's a good game.

I want a Wrex themed tower defense game with RPG elements but I feel it will be more like dialogue wheel themed 3rd person shooter.

Not entirely true. If it's set before in the timeline, lots of stuff is already written in stone about the future. Like if it was about the First Contact War with the Turians or whatever it was called, the outcome of that conflict is known. So much of what has transpired in the Mass Effect universe prior to the Trilogy is known, as is the The Reaper Threat and its outcome.

While the whole prequel angle might be cool, it also kinda deflates the magic of discovery a bit. Certain things are always *spoiled*, when stories are set in a known past. Like you could find out who's definitely going to live on Boardwalk Empire, at least the historic figures, if you read up on them on Wikipedia, for example.

The extended cut basically established in all of them that the relays and such are repaired after not too long. They could basically let synthesis fuck off and you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference between control or destroy if they don't bring up the Reapers at all. The only other difference would be synthetic life, but even if the geth were still around they could explain it away by saying only synthetics on earth were affected or some shit like that. It would destroy the element of choice in the ME3 endings, but it's not like the choice was that great and I don't think too many people are really invested in them.

Whatever they do, I hope they experiment with a smaller risk storyline. That's to say, make the story about something other than the world ending and you having to save it. I think it could be really cool.

What about the ridiculousness of the synthesis ending? (All galactic life is now both organic and synthetic.) They made it pretty explicit that the effects were galaxy-wide.

Didn't they say IF they made another one, it would most likely either be an MMO, only online MP type thing, or a prequel. I remember reading something that said they would never make a game set after ME3.

They only way it would matter is if the events of the story would be affected by some of the major events yet to come in the ME universe. In my mind the best possible premise for the next Mass Effect game is a small scale story about a small group of individuals (like say, the crew of an independent ship) as opposed to some grand good vs. evil bullshit.

The best thing about Mass Effect is the depth of the universe with the races and politics in addition to great character work. The galaxy spanning war and ancient evil are the worst aspects of the series, so going small scale with a story that wouldn't be different whether it was before or after the reaper war is what I really want out of that series going forward. Obviously some state of world stuff would be different depending on when it is set, but when I say it won't be a prequel or sequel, I mean hopefully the plot and characters have nothing to do with anything trilogy related.

I want it to be a sequel set thousands of years after mass effect 3, I want the space child to have merged with Shepard to have him become a god like entity, but Shepard doesn't know this and doesn't have any memory of his time with the entity, that would be one of the major plot points going forward, that he doesn't remember. At the end of the game Shepard and star child together become the bad guy attempting to resurrect the reapers, the next two games are a new crew, maybe with liara trying to defeat him.

That's why I said synthesis can fuck off. A ridiculously small percentage of people chose it and they should just forget it exists.

I'd wish they'd never make another Mass Effect, I still think it's a great series, but the decline from the first to the last is unparalleled.

Now that EA has Star Wars, they should make a proper KoTOR 3, if they can manage not to fuck that up, go on to a new franchise and I'll be on board.

All that really hinges on Dragon Age 3 not being total garbage though...

I'd like to see a prequel where the game focuses on the Humans first getting out into space or maybe even focusing on the First Contact War with the Turians. I would love to see the game's take on humanity stretching out into the universe, and all of the growing pains that come along with that sort of fast expansion of technology (via the Charon Relay discovery).

Basically whatever you do... stay away from that shithole of an ending from 3 where you essentially wrote yourself out of continuing the story any further.

Alternate universe.

Totally sums up my thoughts.

As long as they dont make you pull in your save from the previous game, I dont care. I want something fresh and new that completely leaves the original trilogy behind.

Also, I played the first 3 games on my laptop, and if they are switching over to frostbite 3, my laptop wont be able to run it. So Ill feel less bad about switching over to PS4 if they dont have any save importing stuff

An indirect sequel.

I guess that's what I hated the most about ME3's ending, how I felt like it destroyed all future prospects for the Mass Effect universe, of which I hadn't had my fill. I want more Mass Effect, and it's hard imagining it past ME3.

I really wonder how they will get past it, and if they manage to get past it unscathed. It will be like pulling off a bandaid. It will hurt, and maybe the wound beneath it has festered and will kill you. Or everything is fine.

A prequel seems like the easy way out, because then they don't have to define which ending of ME 3 is canon (though it has to be Destroy) and can fall back on the lore they've already written. That also seems like something that modern Bioware would do.

What about, I don't care what it is, but I'll probably play it regardless.

I am fine with either, so none of those options fit : /

A prequel puts you in an interesting time period, a sequel would force them to pick a canon ending, which I'd be excited about.

I still haven't finished ME3, but I have a feeling they won't be doing sequels. Maybe prequels with other characters (not Shepard's crew), or something completely different.

A sequel where you play as an alien.

Please, Bioware? PLEASH?!

Whats probably going to happen. 2,000 years after the events of ME3, a mysterious group evolved from Cerberus uses DNS from Shepard stored in some magical vault, to clone him. And you play as Shepard again! Tada.

I really hope they at least give you a choice between several races. Humans are the most boring species in Mass Effect.

Idea!

Mass Effect universe, indirect from previous games, neo noir, you play as a private detective.

This needs to happen

After the trainwreck of ME3 it needs to be as unrelated to Shepard arc as possible.

My guess: "After the Reapers... blah blah blah... time passes... everything basically goes back to normal" and then have the Council crumbling due to whatever and plotting by ???, and then all the races turning on each other, leading to a totally kick ass civil war.

Basically Game of Thrones except with Races instead of Houses. First game about uncovering the plot (but ultimately failing to stop it), then as many games as they like about the different races beating the shit out of each other, forging alliances, stabbing each other in the back etc. etc.

I hope it's something entirely new in the same universe. I'm sick of being the bloody "chosen one", or similar, I just wanna be a space pirate. Yeah, that would be awesome actually. Pimping your ship, raiding and plundering... I might be playing to much of AC4: Black Flag.

I really enjoyed the Mass Effect universe, so I am hoping they can take that universe and do an all new game with new characters and experiences.

I want a noir-esque game focused on Garrus. "C-sec Stories" so a prequel. That would be rad.

Sex in space. Maybe ship to ship fights, like Assassin's Creed Black Flag but in space with lasers.

I hope sequel. They cant pull of the whole prothean mystery twice and they dont have much of a timeline to work with if you are to play as a human, so i dont see how they would pull it of and interest me at the same time. But who knows? Maybe we wont play as a human.

@kidavenger

At this point i think the Mass effect universe is more interesting then the Star Wars one so i'd rather they build a new mass effect :-)

I wish Mass Effect 4 could just be a bunch of cool character stories like Mass Effect 2 without the fate of the universe riding in the balance. The moments I liked the most from those three games are just lingering in the world and introducing cool people and creatures and getting to know them. I would also hope you don't have to be a human to ping pong between all the alien races and they could just have a Quarian story or Krogan story, etc. Not to say there couldn't be a cool human character in the mix.

I just want some cool stories with the Mass Effect vibe. I don't have that need to see the tension and stakes keep getting ratcheted up to ridiculous degrees.

I'm hoping for the same thing. The ME universe is so big, there is no reason why they have to make a game in the same vein as the first three.

Yeah, various choices with differing origins(like Dragon Age: Origins) would be kinda cool.

My thoughts exactly. I am so sick of RPGs that can't come up a story other than the world/galaxy/universe being threatened by a great evil that only the chosen one can stop. That's why, despite its many faults, I really appreciated what they tried to do with the story in Dragon Age II.

The Mass Effect universe is full of such amazing potential for interesting storytelling that I really hope they don't fall back on some galaxy spanning conflict as the basis for the story yet again.

Yes, absolutely! We don't need to save the world. We just need an interesting story. Some sort of police-procedural, detective story sort of thing would be perfect.

A retelling of the story of Mass Effects 1-3 in the style of a MOBA....

Anyway, I thought it woulda been cool if a game followed the story of somebody living in the citadel. Maybe concurrent to other, bigger (not world-ending, mind you), events.

Anything that takes place before ME3 is a waste of time. The books fill in enough.

Keep it moving forward. Try not to screw it up this time.

I said fuck prequels. I think that the ending, and the negative feedback they've already gotten on stealing away player agency, will lead them to looking back in history. What I"d really like to see though is a story set after the control ending.

I generally dont enjoy prequels. They always have to leave things off where they started in the first game, they always are more advanced then (ala batman has all his cool stuff). And the way Mass Effect 3 ended, I don't know how exactly we proceed.

If they don't hire a completely new writing staff I don't care what it is.

they should seriously go sequel, Shepard's true ending is a reaper, so going around leading reaper units, repairing mass relays. Your friends are stuck on a planet and they get on survival missions, Joker and Edi relationships continues. Not just dumb erotic fan fiction, what would Joker and edi do if they crossed a river, she's all metal he can't walk, the comedy writes itself. But even just a scene with Shepard trying to explain to Edi "yeah I went reaper, it'd be so weird if I had robots and humans mate, yuk"

I hope they come up with some sort of creative alternative. I don't like the idea of a sequel, because it forces them to choose a canon ending. There's no way they could make a new game that accounts for the final decision. Then there's also the expectation that saves will carry over and all of that nonsense, and I feel like making a sequel is just asking for another fan meltdown, if any of them still care enough to do so. The only way I'd accept a sequel is if they set it hundreds of years later so there is absolutely no temptation to use older characters again, I'm done with them.

A prequel would probably be pretty boring. I think a lot of the fun in Mass Effect comes from learning about new settings and races. I don't see how they could introduce anything new in a prequel. It would be extra lame if they decided to set it during one of the many events already greatly detailed in the codex, because we know how all of those play out already.

My ideal scenario for Mass Effect 4 I've already detailed on the site, it's a Lost in Space scenario set well before the events of the trilogy, wherein you are the commander of a ship full of varied refugees, trying to balance the needs of your passengers, deal with the hostile and foreign environment you find yourself in, and find your way back to the Milky Way.

Also acceptable: Time Travel.

Sequel please. Just pick a cannon ending, any will do. Make up some new shit. Multiple choices of races. Big fucking crew. No more being a spectre. I felt like got too many freebies because I was a spectre, make me work for it. Make side quests like they are in the Witcher 2, not many of them but each is well crafted. Lots of talking.

Interquel bitches! There were two years between Mass Effect 1 and 2 where Shepard was dead and no one gave a damn about the reapers. That's a ripe period.