Since Mass Effect 3 is officially over and Mass Effect 4 is in the works, I felt like making a list of things I'm hoping for in the next game....
Assuming I buy it at all. Considering how the end of Mass Effect 3 left me feeling angry and unsatisfied. The Citadel DLC was wonderful but at the end of the day we still have the ending we got. That ending being the worst thing that's ever happened to Mass Effect.
Playable races
Along with the ability to customize the look of a new character in ME4, I'd love to see the options to play as other races as well as human. Like Asari and Drell (since they're animations wouldn't be much different then a humans) as well as Turian (because of their popularity) and possibly even Salarian (Because Salarian's are awesome, though five races may be too much.) I've been wanting this since getting a taste of it in the multiplayer.
More Customization
More options when customizing your character and armor, as well as your ship, or apartment, or headquarters, or wherever your character calls home. One problem I had with Mass Effect was that I could never make a male Shepard that looked decent. He always looked really stupid or ugly or just plain derpy.
Less Action shooter, more RPG
While I understand gearing more toward action, with the invasion of the reapers and all, Mass Effect needs to get back to it's roots. The action bits should still feel good and be fun, but it shouldn't be the focus of the game.
Explorable worlds
In ME2 and 3 especially exploration of areas were pretty much thrown out the door. Though I can understand why, I think we need to get back to that. Not that exploration was all that great in ME1 since the planets were all usually the same but with different sky and cliffs and side quests. As well as seeing brand new worlds that we've never seen before, I'd actually like to see worlds we know but have never actually been to, like Kahje, Palaven, or get to see more of Sur'kesh and Thessia.
NOT A PREQUEL
I don't want to play a game that takes place during or before the Shepard trilogy. All I'd be able to think is "What's the point of this? The star child f**** all this up anyway." I want a sequel, and I want to see the impact my choices have on the world I Shepard leaves for the next protagonist. Even if the story takes place many years after. No first contact war, no morning war, no Prothean wars with the Reapers.
No more Paragon or Renegade
I feel like this game-play aspect is too closely tied to Shepard. I'd also like to see a bit more varied decisions, in place of the Paragon, renegade options. More conversation and personality Options please.
Not another trilogy
Needless to say I'm one of those people that hated the ending of ME3. And if the next game is the first of another trilogy I wont buy it until all the games are out and I have confirmation that the endings aren't crap. I can't do another trilogy where I get so invested in the story and characters just for the ending to pull some stupid twist where none of my previous choices had any meaning in the end. I want a smaller story that doesn't have a world threatening enemy like the Reapers.
MORE FEMALES
The Mass Effect universe is such a sausage fest. I want to see more female npcs running around. Not just Asari and Human. But Female Turians, Salarians, Drell, you get the picture. Maybe even a female Batarian or something. But on that note, do not try to make the females 'sexy' just for the sake of appealing to male players. Female Turians shouldn't have breasts since the Turians are based on birds. Drell are more like desert lizards so no boobs. Salarians are amphibians and shouldn't have tits. Batarians.... maybe. Yeah, I guess Batarians can have boobs.
Equality
More male vs female bullshit. Basically what I mean by equality is that if your gonna do it for Fem players you better do it for Bro players. In Mass Effect 3 Female players got screwed over. Not only did one of our romance options cheat on us but another was murdered in front of us. While that shit is infuriating, what's even worse is that guys don't have to deal with that crap. If Jacob cheats on the Fem players then Jack should cheat on male players. If Thane is murdered in front of Fem players and dies no matter what you do then Miranda should be murdered in front of male players and die no matter what they do. If you're going to be an asshole the least you can do is be an asshole to everyone.
Strippers
Okay, this is more joking then anything but still. xD Anyway in Mass Effect 1 and 2 we get Asari strippers... uh that's great and all but I'm not in to Asari... because they look like chicks. I would'nt mind seeing some variety. How about some male strippers, you know? Get some Turians in there. I WANNA SEE A HANAR PROSTITUTE, LIARA TALKED ABOUT IT IT MUST BE REAL.
New Quest Tracking System
The quest tracking system sucked in ME3. I could never tell how far along I was in each quest or whether or not I had found the thing I was suppose to find. It was a mess. Getting that sorted out would be appreciated. On that note don’t force us to do side quests and don’t penalize us for not doing side quests. In ME3 you NEEDED the dumb side quests just to get the war assets.
Also, please, no more fetch quests and PLEASE no more eavesdropping.
Love Interests Like Dragon Age 2
In Dragon Age 2 all the romance options were made romance-able to both genders. Now this is actually weird for me to say because I was one of the ones who felt the ‘Bi’ romance options felt a little cheap and unrealistic.
HOWEVER.
Mass Effect 3 screwed over female players BIG TIME in terms of romances with the loss of two romance options while male players lost nothing. By making the romances accessible to both genders I think it will help prevent the favoritism between male players and female players (At least when it comes to romance options). At the same time there should be an equal amount of male and female romance options for players to choose whatever they want their characters sexual orientation to be.
Keep the multiplayer OUT of singleplayer
I am NOT someone who enjoys multiplayer. Making playing the multiplayer necessary to playing or beating a game is very, very frustrating for people like me, who just don’t really enjoy it. I’m not saying take the multiplayer away, just… not in the single-player campaign please.
No Story Vital DLC
This isn’t a rant against day 1 DLC. In the beginning of ME3 Shepard was incarcerated for wiping out an entire system…. unless you didn’t buy the Arrival DLC. Then Shepard being in jail makes absolutely no sense because she got the okay to do what she needed to do as long as it was in the Terminus Systems. An even WORSE example of this is the Leviathan DLC which WAS NECESSARY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE TWIST ENDING. Please STOP putting important plot points in DLC.
UGHIHATETHATKIDSOMUCH
No More Forced Character Moments
What I’m referring to are those moments where the story wanted my Shepard to act a certain way. Like when Ashley/Kaidan get beat by the Pre-EDI bot. I’m sorry, but my Renegade Shepard would not act that way, I don’t care HOW stressed she is. In the previous games we got to decide what our characters motivations were. But in the third game it kept forcing my Shepard to feel a certain way. It REALLY takes you out of the game.
Unknown Protagonist
From Mass Effect 1, Shepard was a well known character in the universe. They’ve got a fan boy and people know all about their exploits prior to becoming a Spectre. Personally I’d like to play as a unknown character and build my reputation through the events of the game itself.
Quarian Redesign
If the game is a sequel that takes place over sixty years in the future then let’s see some Quarian faces! (Assuming the Quarians are still alive- because they can be dead) Maybe redesign Them a bit. They redesigned the Protheans, right? Why not give Quarians an interesting and unique new design… instead of that photo shop thing they did for Tali’s face. :I
Space Battles
Since our ship in the next ME game will probably not be a state of the art stealth warship, how about some cool space battles? For example: Outside Council space how about making it so our ship can be ambushed by, like, Batarian pirates and you can decide to try to escape or fight them. These battles could also tie into morality and customization.
After the battle you could chose to kill the pirates or let the survivors go, which could effect your character’s reputation.
By looting the ship you could get customizations for your own ship. “Wow this ships ____ is much better then our ____, let’s steal it and install it in our ship” And that could change the appearance of your ship?
Something like that.
Also I want to custom paint stuff on my ship like fighter pilots do on the noses of their planes
FOCUS ON THE CHARACTERS
For me the most important aspect of Mass Effect are the characters. The world is intriguing and the story (Usually) is wonderful but what really makes me care about all that are the characters. Deciding whether or not to cure the genophage wouldn’t have really mattered if I didn’t know Krogan like Wrex or Grunt. The thing that really made me feel for Palaven was Garrus, worried sick about his family, pointing out the place where he was born on the smoldering surface of the planet. The characters ground us in the reality the game has created, over time we fall in love with them and we end up fighting for them not just with them. Give us time with them, give us more interaction with them. (The new characters that we will meet in the next game I mean)
Easter Eggs
Especially if the game is a sequel. Make articles the player can find that relate to our old Squad-mates giving glimpses into what happened to them. (Good things hopefully) Little callbacks to the series that you have to look for to find, you know what I mean.
Also when you go to the Citadel and enter the stores every once in a while they should randomly play
“IM COMMANDER SHEPARD AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORE ON THE CITADEL”
Okay, I think I’m really done this time.
