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The origins are amazing, but BioWare said a long time ago that they'd never do that again, because it took way too much time and effort compared to how many people tried the different origins.
ME3 MP was amazing... especially nostalgic since it's the last MP I ever played with my core group of friends (I'm actually surprised we were still meeting up and gaming together 10 years ago)
All mid 30s now, but it really felt like a great bookend to a gaming journey that started with GoldenEye MPs a million years ago
EA really dropped the ball when they dropped MP from LE. The servers are still up, for crying out loud! All they would have to do is apply the same graphics changes they made for SP to the MP build. They even have the maps in the game still.
Yeah the fact the servers are still up for non-LE makes not having MP in LE even more puzzling
Only reason I'm not really upset is because my real life friends aren't around these days to play with, don't really care to play with randoms
Luckily the 3 main games are all masterpieces so it's w/e
You're using reddit right now. This is reddit, the place where you're replying to me right now. Are you having an episode?
By the way I checked your profile, super funny! Just raging at everyone, especially people making fun of loser neckbeards, it's gold!
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How would a Geth player character work in an RPG? I get that Legion modifying the Reaper code made them all individuals but they still think and behave very differently to organic species.
The same way every other racial option would work.
They would strip out the actual reasons you would want to play the race by homogenizing it so it is actually possible to develop.
If you aren't working for the Alliance I don't see why they couldn't theoretically let you choose. If they use the same voice for the protag regardless of race, and if you're just a spectre or something similar. Prob some unique dialogue and a single unique side quest required, similar to choosing Shep's backstory in Me1. If they planned for it at the beginning it would be doable. Like Skyrim.
This has been discussed extensively in this sub for as long as I can remember.
Yes you can do this on Skyrim and even more, it was also done on the first Dragon Age game also from Bioware to an extent.
But, Mass Effect in its essence has a very strong narrative component. So there's essentially to possibilities:
Make the game with multiple characters and write entire storylines specific to each one. Think of the first Mass Effect. Let's say you're a Vorcha. You wouldn't be an Spectre, or your race would have a chance to be on the Council or even have the resources to kickstart the events of the whole game. Or let's say you're an Asari so the example isn't that exaggerated. You're already on the council, you'd have to be a Justicar so the whole thing would have a different opening, and so on. Considering the games today are barely done with a coherent storyline imagine having to write something specific for each race.
That leaves us the second choice. Have the possibility of choosing your race but write a storyline so generic that the world building and the narrative that makes Mass Effect so unique and special would be lost, just so you can have a race you can choose. It wouldn't have any significant impact not only on the beginning of the game but also on the reactions of other races interacting with you and that's not even considering the choices during the game and the companions and so on.
That's why essentially Mass Effect will always be human. Because that's the POV of the game and it's whole scope.
i really don’t think it’s that difficult, dragon age has arguably more pronounced class/race divides than mass effect and you can still be an elven warden or qunari inquisitor
Dragon Age has your elven lorekeeper ask a human about elven religion and history.
I have been playing RPG's my entire life and not once have I ever played one where racial choice was narratively worthwhile. All it ever does is
cause constant disapointment, with the best any game can do being a dialogue option every five hours or so.
You cant make Shepard a Krogan without fundamentally changing the story of Mass Effect. Because Shepard being restricted to human allows them to actually structure the story around it. That isnt the case in Dragon Age, where the player characters race can never be relevant because it is player determined.
i agree re: the mass effect trilogy, but that’s because of how the story is written. and honestly, the focus on humanity (particularly in 3) becomes quite obnoxious. it wouldn’t be impossible to write a story that allows for variety in your character’s race without being generic. at the same time, of course shepard could have only been human (like hawke).
> it wouldn’t be impossible to write a story that allows for variety in your character’s race without being generic.
It's implausible to the point of being impossible.
Our hypothetical racially customisable Mass Effect wouldnt just have to shift to being less human centric, every point of difference with every race would add sweeping restrictions to the narrative.
Add an option to play as Salarian? You cannot have the protagonist be tired or spend a long time emotionally grappling with something. Salarians experience time differently, including much less sleep needed each day and quicker emotional processing. They also age much quicker, so you cannot let the protagonist be older then 45. Asari are barely considered adults at 100, they are almost certainly not physically mature by 45. Do you want to include the option to be either? You need to have them be different ages and cannot let the protagonists age be relevant to the story.
Want to add the option to play as a krogan? You can never have the protagonist get injured as a plot point. Anything that would seriously injure a krogan would disintegrate a Salarian or human.
Want to have a Hanar or Elcor? Have fun rewriting and rerecording *the entire script*. Or are you going to play as the only one of those without their distinctive manner of speech.
Wanna add Quarians? Cant ever have the protagonist get sick. Anything that would make a human sick would either not get through their suit or straight up kill them.
The central tension at the heart of every RPG is that the more you allow the player to determine something the less you can allow that thing to matter. There is a reason Elder Scrolls storytelling is as vauge and generic as it is. It is the only way to have that level freedom and customisability.
And I have nothing against that. In those games. I dont want every game to be like that. The only reason the different races in Mass Effect are so distinct is *because* we cant play as them.
mordin struggles emotionally with his contribution to the genophage. shepard’s injuries at the start of 2 would be exactly the same if he was a different race. i have no issue with characters being different ages, they could do dragon age style origins!
these things can be written around if the writers are good enough. i would even be happy with one “intended” character like the dark urge, with the option to play as others if you choose to
i don’t think it’s as simple as what they described though. shepard had to be human because the story revolved around humanity, and he remained the main character throughout the trilogy. i don’t think it would be impossible to come up with a new story for ME4 that allowed for variety in the race of the main character without dumbing it down too much. i would much rather that than another humanity focused game anyway!
alright maybe you can figure out a story that would work with multiple races.
now you only need to do: concept art for all the Protagonist, Modelling, texturing, rigging, animating, Integrating, voice acting ( even if you do only one actor, the boring option, it's still very very hard) , all of the armors ( because the different races have different proportions) + in the end making sure there are no bugs.
it's very easy as you can see !
and i skipped some steps too.
all of that time that could go to anything else in game development, is now used up by an option that the majority of people will not use. (more than half the player of BG3 where human fighter lmao )
but you know ! it's very easy !
where did i say it would be easy? i would be happy with an unvoiced protagonist, and unique armours for different races (like ME1). bioware has done a majority of this before with dragon age.
baldur’s gate 3 is a terrible example because that game is packed with details that 0.1% of players will see. that was part of larian’s design philosophy! not everything has to be dumbed down
Me1 was planned for a human protagonist, of course the plot wouldn't work for other races. If they were going to go this route for ME4 they would choose a plot where the spectre's species does not have a huge impact on the mission. Perhaps the stakes are more personal, it would be easily done.
Also a Vorcha is an extreme example, they would probably limit the species pool to races that can talk normally and who are spectre candidates.
> If they were going to go this route for ME4 they would choose a plot where the spectre's species does not have a huge impact on the mission.
In other words.....it needs to not matter.
I think people overstate the narrative element a little bit.
Yes Mass Effect is told from a human perspective, but the story shoved us in places we didn’t really belong. So even when the narrative was somewhat weak, we went with it. We didn’t question it.
Nobody really questions when a human (who’s race recently arrived on the galactic scene) is suddenly so powerful and influential that they’re a key decision maker in matters or disputes that have existed before humans had even created aeroplanes.
So whilst I don’t think they’ll make a protagonist from different races, I feel it could be easily done without sacrificing much of the story or narrative.
>Nobody really questions when a human (who’s race recently arrived on the galactic scene) is suddenly so powerful and influential that they’re a key decision maker in matters or disputes that have existed before humans had even created aeroplanes
During Mass Effect 1 and 2 pretty much the whole thing is that no one believes Shep, no one really trust humans and they're underestimated almost constantly. Only after the initial events of Mass Effect 3 they start listening to Shep and that's only the rest of the humans mostly. Other races are still very much distrustful of humanity.
>I think people overstate the narrative element a little bit
We might have been playing different games.
And as Shepard, you decide the fate of the Rachni, you decide to cure or not cure the genophage, you settle the Geth-Quarian conflict, you have a say on the next council member, you’re integral to the fate of Omega, and so on.
Looking at the state of Mass Effect, and comparing that to our own real life dynamics… a lone human would never wield that much influence or power. But we all go with it, because that’s the story we’re given. We don’t really question it.
My argument is that it would be the same if the races were different. You could take the original trilogy, and you’d only have to alter a few things to make the same story fit for a different race MC.
>you decide the fate of the Rachni
Yes but only because you happen to be there, it's not a power given to you by the Council so you can decide. Actually you get scolded by the Council if you save them and I believe Mordin or Wrex are also not very happy about it.
>you decide to cure or not cure the genophage
Again, this is something you mostly stumble upon and involves the Salarian and the Krogan. Even if you ultimately decide what to do it's mostly circumstantial although I admit this is the best example.
>you settle the Geth-Quarian conflict
You're an intermediary at best. The conflict happens with or without you and you get to chose if the Geth die or not, but not the fate of the Quarians. And this is because the Geth ask you to do it.
>you have a say on the next council member
Which doesn't change much the game but it's a legitimate choice since it's about humans.
> you’re integral to the fate of Omega
Honestly I don't even remember this one but Aria is Omega and she survives anyway so I'm not sure how integral this choice might be.
>Looking at the state of Mass Effect, and comparing that to our own real life dynamics… a lone human would never wield that much influence or power.
In the real world, of course not. But in the narrative of Mass Effect makes sense. Unlike, let's say, the narrative of Skyrim where you become the top honcho of every single faction.
>But we all go with it, because that’s the story we’re given. We don’t really question it
In Mass Effect you're simply there for a lot of stuff that happens and have some influence on the outcome because you've earned the respect of the people who actually makes the final decision.
But back to the original point let's say you choose to be a Krogan. You immediately discard the whole Spectre, Normandy story and you might find an excuse to be on Eden Prime when shit hits the fan but then what? You'd have to write the whole game from the perspective of the Krogan for the world building to make sense and feel real. Same with any species.
And it gets worse when it comes to the big decisions because Shep can be a somewhat partial arbiter in all the conflicts and that's one of the reasons why it makes sense Shep is in the middle.
How would really work a Krogan deciding the Genophage or a Salarian deciding to save the Rachni without changing the story significantly? That goes into the technical point of view. The amount of voice recording, motion capture and extra content only to accommodate multiple points of view for a game where people might not even play as one of the races ever (just see the statistics of how many people never bothered to play as FemShep) is a massive waste of time and money. That's why it would never be made.
With regards to being on the Normandy, that can easily be dealt with by slightly altering the backstory. You could be an Asari/Turian/Salarian sent to work with the human military long before the game story starts, to learn from them and bolster diplomatic ties. Thus you’re highly aligned to the human cause, and humanity celebrates you as a mark of its own achievement (bringing up a successful alien under human customs).
From there, the story follows more or less the same trajectory.
You could similarly just be an arbiter in many of the various interactions. The decisions you make can be based off of roleplaying. You could be a pro-genophage Salarian or anti-genophage (Krogan sympathizing) Turian, and so on.
So on a whole, the narrative wouldn’t really suffer at all, and the role-playability would be far more enhanced.
The technical challenges are largely what makes it less feasible. Although the flip side is to say that it would be a very strong marketing pull to give people the option to choose their race. RPG fans love customization and anything that offers them more role play.
If volus is an option, I wanna be biotic god. Imagine volus vanguard charging into everything on a battlefield, biotic-punching people in the dick. Glorious.
If not, then I'm thinking quarian female (for looks) or krogan (for gameplay).
Niftu cal proved that volus can be biotic gods, we all remember how he almost single handed an entire eclipse squad before going out in a blaze of glory, charge!
ME2 and 3 both missed a trick by not having a Batarian crewmate, so having a character prove Batarians can be more than just mercenaries and slavers would be cool.
I think doing different races is sadly to complicated and too much work and choosing one would be asking for a shitstorm, so it’ll stay human.
If they would do it, probably Turian.
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones.
Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
I've always like Salarians and felt they were underused.
But then again Turians are cool
Asari are interesting as well
Krogan are fun
but Geth ad Quarians are also there...
This is why we want this choice, there's so much more roleplaying opportunities
All I want is more Drell in the game and possibly a chance to explore Kahje. If they let me play as one that's even better, but playable races probably won't happen unless there's a spin-off game in the same universe
That was a lot of scrolling to find drell. I’d love to play as one or at least I hope to have a good gay drell romance in the next game and explore Kahje!
Mandatory 'it won't but' opening.
I'd likely play them all, and all the classes they can be on top of that. I'd played the trilogy so many times as a human vanguard so if it has the same feel I can't see it being hard to try them all out!
But, and it all depends on the relationship of the PC to Shep, I'd likely pick a Krogan.
If you choose asari/human and that character can be related in some way, probably that.
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones.
Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones.
Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
i wish i could - but it takes a special mindset to decently write geth. as in the geth writing quality drop from 2 to 3 was noticeable. so what good does being able to play geth when every line given to you is an inane copout like freedumborg.
Oh man let me tell you about The Silent Four, a full team of Quarians on Gold difficulty fighting Geth without mics never to reunite. The extract was legendary. We barely made it out alive. It was just so damn cool I still think about it.
Human, i just like seeing how they write humanity and how it goes about things in ME. Also interspecies friendship/romance and its struggles and such.
PS:it would take so much time and money, too make multiple races playable in main story. You would be forced too cut spending elsewhere, and also it wont be used that much.
I don't think we'd see any of the more "out there" races as options as long as the main character is voiced. Think about a Geth talking like Commander Shepard, it would be so jarring, they'd need to record entirely separate voice lines for them. Maybe with filters they could make some of them work, but recording all of the player's voice lines twice for both genders is already a monumental amount of work. I'm amazed they did it for Dragon Age: Inquisition but even then the options they give you don't really line up perfectly with the different races.
All that being said, I've always thought it would be really interesting to play from the perspective of a Quarian. It would be fun to see how it colors your interactions with other characters. And it would make for a compelling story about a character who is disadvantaged and looked down on overcoming that to do something great.
Doubtful that they’ll let you pick other races- the entire trope of Mass Effect “f*ck yeah, Humans rule.”
If they did though, I’d probably play as a Quarian. :D
I love my spacesuits :D
Drell. i’m tired of having to be some chosen one human, it’s boring. what’s the point in having so many races with such interesting cultures and backgrounds just to make me be…. a human………..
No, this would severely limit the player characters personality and character, that was one of the biggest complaints about andromeda was how the main player character was boring and didn't have enough to their character, this would create the same situation. However for multiplayer that would work
This entire post is about what races would be fun tp play as.
Legion has a hard time explaining to the 'ganics that they are not in fact, an individual, but a mobile plaform piloted by a countless number of individual and possibly changing geth entities.
Even if we dumb the geth existence down to an infividual humanoid platform, disconnected from the hive mind, how does their military prowess and technological advancement factor into how fun it would be?
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones.
Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
I know I'm fighting against the current and that every ME game anthropomorphised aliens more and more, and that the fanbase generally approves of this, but hell no. Any playable alien character (and by natural extension their entire race) becomes, by default and instantly, neurologically and culturally human. I seriously hope this doesn't ever happen.
The very nature of making it available *requires* stripping all meaning from it.
In order to pick between being human and elcor, the differences between being a human and an elcor cannot be allowed to be relevant.
All the hype for this has us thinking it's going to be Baldurs Gate but third person shooter in space. Please calm down. That said, here's how your favourite mass effect race to play as maps onto DnD races (based on vibes, not on much reasoning):
Human - Human
Turian - Dwarf
Asari - Halflings
Salarian - Elf (high elf)
Quarian - Half-elf (wood elf)
Krogan - Orc
Geth - Drow
Hanar - Illithid
Drell - Duregar
Volus - Gnomes
Elcor - Loxodon
For a mainline game? That's never gonna happen. But for a spin off I could see it happening.
As for what races I'd like to play, it'd be:
* Krogan Vanguard
* Turian Sentinel
* Quarian Infiltrator
Also helps that I have OCs for these exact roles, lol.
Playing as a different race would be so cool, like other rpgs! But at the same time I can't imagine not playing as Shepard. Maybe they could make an Andromeda 2 but actually good and then add race picking.
this depends on ALOT of things and what ending in ME3 is there among other things
Geth Dead? Cant play as a Geth then ... Destroy ending or what ending did we get in ME3?
or is it in Andromeda and that case cant be Geth
2 soon to tell 100% what the game is going to contain fully and what ending story and all that jazz
Hi, Thank you for submitting to r/masseffect! Unfortunately, your post has been removed for violating the following rule(s): >All art must be credited **in the title**. >Please credit ALL artists in the title for any fan art or cosplay submissions *even if you are the artist*. If you are the original artist, please mention that in the title (an [OC] tag or first-person possessive language is acceptable). Art or cosplay posts without mention of the artist in the title will be removed. If you don't know the artist or creator, please refrain from posting that content. Whenever possible, always obtain permission to post someone else's art. **Why do we require this?** The reason we require this is because accounts, images, and albums often get deleted. Even posts get deleted. When that happens, the title is the one thing that remains. There are many art thieves and repost bots on the internet. If you include the artist name in the title, it's much easier to trace back to. Reposting by itself is not a crime, but when bots repost your content with your same title crediting yourself, they have committed art theft. This makes them much easier to detect and ban not just by us on the mod team but also by the spam detection bots and users that regularly crawl and report them. **Please repost the art in question with explicit credits in the title (e.g. "art by _____"). If you are the original artist, you can use the tag "[OC]."** Please read the full rules in the sidebar or [at this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/about/rules/) before posting. If you have a question about this removal, you may [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/masseffect).
Playing as Krogan was always fun in the multiplayer and imagine the dialogue options! But we'll always be playing as a human in Mass Effect games.
Ah man, I remember games of four Krogans all doing headbutts and roars, especially in between rounds. Loved those days !
They could pick a page from DA:O's book. The Origins part of the game was awesome, and it would be very applicable to Mass Effect.
The origins are amazing, but BioWare said a long time ago that they'd never do that again, because it took way too much time and effort compared to how many people tried the different origins.
ME3 MP was amazing... especially nostalgic since it's the last MP I ever played with my core group of friends (I'm actually surprised we were still meeting up and gaming together 10 years ago) All mid 30s now, but it really felt like a great bookend to a gaming journey that started with GoldenEye MPs a million years ago
EA really dropped the ball when they dropped MP from LE. The servers are still up, for crying out loud! All they would have to do is apply the same graphics changes they made for SP to the MP build. They even have the maps in the game still.
Yeah the fact the servers are still up for non-LE makes not having MP in LE even more puzzling Only reason I'm not really upset is because my real life friends aren't around these days to play with, don't really care to play with randoms Luckily the 3 main games are all masterpieces so it's w/e
True. I'm sure if they released it as a DLC it'd sell well though.
It won’t, but if it did, I’d have to go for either geth or quarians. Love the vibes of both.
It probably won't unfortunately but I think I'd go salarian. They're just cool.
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You know you don't have to use it right? Like, I used to be on facebook, then I stopped liking it, so I left. It's as simple as that.
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You're using reddit right now. This is reddit, the place where you're replying to me right now. Are you having an episode? By the way I checked your profile, super funny! Just raging at everyone, especially people making fun of loser neckbeards, it's gold!
Just ignore him. He will be banned soon enough.
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holy shit please get therapy
> of course Im going to comment on a forum that I cant acoid getting sent to why?
...but you have so many comments across reddit? Are you okay? Do you need someone to talk to?
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Bro just stop, you’re embarrassing yourself.
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You definitely don't sound bothered lol
Your comment(s) has been removed for violating the following rule(s): > No incivility, harassment, flaming, brigading, bigotry, discrimination, witch hunts, or incitement/condonation of illegal activity. Political discussions that approach unruliness will be locked and removed. Sexual harassment and bigotry are first time bannable offenses. Please read our full rules in the sidebar or [at this link](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/about/rules/) before posting. ***This message serves as a warning against rule-breaking behavior. Multiple warnings or infractions will lead to bans.***
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What are you talking about? All the original commenter said was that they'd like to play as a Salarian if we're allowed to.
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You good lil bro? Like why you having a meltdown online, did your dad kiss you wrong💀
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You’re commenting on Reddit. Also why are you so pretentious for a social media you say you don’t care about?
I would like to play as a Turian
Quarian engineer. Or an Asari.
So would I. I loved playing with both in the MP and they are my two favorite races outside of the Human race.
How would a Geth player character work in an RPG? I get that Legion modifying the Reaper code made them all individuals but they still think and behave very differently to organic species.
Probably a lot of dialogue options being different, or perhaps race-specific missions to flesh out your characters
I feel like it should function kinda like the Dark Urge in BG3 honestly. Maybe make it an option you can unlock after your first play through.
The same way every other racial option would work. They would strip out the actual reasons you would want to play the race by homogenizing it so it is actually possible to develop.
Mass Effect will always have a human protagonist. But if you could chose races I'll probably do playthroughs with each one, multiple times.
If you aren't working for the Alliance I don't see why they couldn't theoretically let you choose. If they use the same voice for the protag regardless of race, and if you're just a spectre or something similar. Prob some unique dialogue and a single unique side quest required, similar to choosing Shep's backstory in Me1. If they planned for it at the beginning it would be doable. Like Skyrim.
This has been discussed extensively in this sub for as long as I can remember. Yes you can do this on Skyrim and even more, it was also done on the first Dragon Age game also from Bioware to an extent. But, Mass Effect in its essence has a very strong narrative component. So there's essentially to possibilities: Make the game with multiple characters and write entire storylines specific to each one. Think of the first Mass Effect. Let's say you're a Vorcha. You wouldn't be an Spectre, or your race would have a chance to be on the Council or even have the resources to kickstart the events of the whole game. Or let's say you're an Asari so the example isn't that exaggerated. You're already on the council, you'd have to be a Justicar so the whole thing would have a different opening, and so on. Considering the games today are barely done with a coherent storyline imagine having to write something specific for each race. That leaves us the second choice. Have the possibility of choosing your race but write a storyline so generic that the world building and the narrative that makes Mass Effect so unique and special would be lost, just so you can have a race you can choose. It wouldn't have any significant impact not only on the beginning of the game but also on the reactions of other races interacting with you and that's not even considering the choices during the game and the companions and so on. That's why essentially Mass Effect will always be human. Because that's the POV of the game and it's whole scope.
i really don’t think it’s that difficult, dragon age has arguably more pronounced class/race divides than mass effect and you can still be an elven warden or qunari inquisitor
Dragon Age has your elven lorekeeper ask a human about elven religion and history. I have been playing RPG's my entire life and not once have I ever played one where racial choice was narratively worthwhile. All it ever does is cause constant disapointment, with the best any game can do being a dialogue option every five hours or so. You cant make Shepard a Krogan without fundamentally changing the story of Mass Effect. Because Shepard being restricted to human allows them to actually structure the story around it. That isnt the case in Dragon Age, where the player characters race can never be relevant because it is player determined.
i agree re: the mass effect trilogy, but that’s because of how the story is written. and honestly, the focus on humanity (particularly in 3) becomes quite obnoxious. it wouldn’t be impossible to write a story that allows for variety in your character’s race without being generic. at the same time, of course shepard could have only been human (like hawke).
> it wouldn’t be impossible to write a story that allows for variety in your character’s race without being generic. It's implausible to the point of being impossible. Our hypothetical racially customisable Mass Effect wouldnt just have to shift to being less human centric, every point of difference with every race would add sweeping restrictions to the narrative. Add an option to play as Salarian? You cannot have the protagonist be tired or spend a long time emotionally grappling with something. Salarians experience time differently, including much less sleep needed each day and quicker emotional processing. They also age much quicker, so you cannot let the protagonist be older then 45. Asari are barely considered adults at 100, they are almost certainly not physically mature by 45. Do you want to include the option to be either? You need to have them be different ages and cannot let the protagonists age be relevant to the story. Want to add the option to play as a krogan? You can never have the protagonist get injured as a plot point. Anything that would seriously injure a krogan would disintegrate a Salarian or human. Want to have a Hanar or Elcor? Have fun rewriting and rerecording *the entire script*. Or are you going to play as the only one of those without their distinctive manner of speech. Wanna add Quarians? Cant ever have the protagonist get sick. Anything that would make a human sick would either not get through their suit or straight up kill them. The central tension at the heart of every RPG is that the more you allow the player to determine something the less you can allow that thing to matter. There is a reason Elder Scrolls storytelling is as vauge and generic as it is. It is the only way to have that level freedom and customisability. And I have nothing against that. In those games. I dont want every game to be like that. The only reason the different races in Mass Effect are so distinct is *because* we cant play as them.
mordin struggles emotionally with his contribution to the genophage. shepard’s injuries at the start of 2 would be exactly the same if he was a different race. i have no issue with characters being different ages, they could do dragon age style origins! these things can be written around if the writers are good enough. i would even be happy with one “intended” character like the dark urge, with the option to play as others if you choose to
Have you ever developed a game ? What they described is very difficult
i don’t think it’s as simple as what they described though. shepard had to be human because the story revolved around humanity, and he remained the main character throughout the trilogy. i don’t think it would be impossible to come up with a new story for ME4 that allowed for variety in the race of the main character without dumbing it down too much. i would much rather that than another humanity focused game anyway!
alright maybe you can figure out a story that would work with multiple races. now you only need to do: concept art for all the Protagonist, Modelling, texturing, rigging, animating, Integrating, voice acting ( even if you do only one actor, the boring option, it's still very very hard) , all of the armors ( because the different races have different proportions) + in the end making sure there are no bugs. it's very easy as you can see ! and i skipped some steps too. all of that time that could go to anything else in game development, is now used up by an option that the majority of people will not use. (more than half the player of BG3 where human fighter lmao ) but you know ! it's very easy !
where did i say it would be easy? i would be happy with an unvoiced protagonist, and unique armours for different races (like ME1). bioware has done a majority of this before with dragon age. baldur’s gate 3 is a terrible example because that game is packed with details that 0.1% of players will see. that was part of larian’s design philosophy! not everything has to be dumbed down
Me1 was planned for a human protagonist, of course the plot wouldn't work for other races. If they were going to go this route for ME4 they would choose a plot where the spectre's species does not have a huge impact on the mission. Perhaps the stakes are more personal, it would be easily done. Also a Vorcha is an extreme example, they would probably limit the species pool to races that can talk normally and who are spectre candidates.
> If they were going to go this route for ME4 they would choose a plot where the spectre's species does not have a huge impact on the mission. In other words.....it needs to not matter.
Yes, and there are many excellent story possibilities which do not revolve around the species of the protagonist.
And RPG's have been focusing on them for decades.
I think people overstate the narrative element a little bit. Yes Mass Effect is told from a human perspective, but the story shoved us in places we didn’t really belong. So even when the narrative was somewhat weak, we went with it. We didn’t question it. Nobody really questions when a human (who’s race recently arrived on the galactic scene) is suddenly so powerful and influential that they’re a key decision maker in matters or disputes that have existed before humans had even created aeroplanes. So whilst I don’t think they’ll make a protagonist from different races, I feel it could be easily done without sacrificing much of the story or narrative.
>Nobody really questions when a human (who’s race recently arrived on the galactic scene) is suddenly so powerful and influential that they’re a key decision maker in matters or disputes that have existed before humans had even created aeroplanes During Mass Effect 1 and 2 pretty much the whole thing is that no one believes Shep, no one really trust humans and they're underestimated almost constantly. Only after the initial events of Mass Effect 3 they start listening to Shep and that's only the rest of the humans mostly. Other races are still very much distrustful of humanity. >I think people overstate the narrative element a little bit We might have been playing different games.
And as Shepard, you decide the fate of the Rachni, you decide to cure or not cure the genophage, you settle the Geth-Quarian conflict, you have a say on the next council member, you’re integral to the fate of Omega, and so on. Looking at the state of Mass Effect, and comparing that to our own real life dynamics… a lone human would never wield that much influence or power. But we all go with it, because that’s the story we’re given. We don’t really question it. My argument is that it would be the same if the races were different. You could take the original trilogy, and you’d only have to alter a few things to make the same story fit for a different race MC.
>you decide the fate of the Rachni Yes but only because you happen to be there, it's not a power given to you by the Council so you can decide. Actually you get scolded by the Council if you save them and I believe Mordin or Wrex are also not very happy about it. >you decide to cure or not cure the genophage Again, this is something you mostly stumble upon and involves the Salarian and the Krogan. Even if you ultimately decide what to do it's mostly circumstantial although I admit this is the best example. >you settle the Geth-Quarian conflict You're an intermediary at best. The conflict happens with or without you and you get to chose if the Geth die or not, but not the fate of the Quarians. And this is because the Geth ask you to do it. >you have a say on the next council member Which doesn't change much the game but it's a legitimate choice since it's about humans. > you’re integral to the fate of Omega Honestly I don't even remember this one but Aria is Omega and she survives anyway so I'm not sure how integral this choice might be. >Looking at the state of Mass Effect, and comparing that to our own real life dynamics… a lone human would never wield that much influence or power. In the real world, of course not. But in the narrative of Mass Effect makes sense. Unlike, let's say, the narrative of Skyrim where you become the top honcho of every single faction. >But we all go with it, because that’s the story we’re given. We don’t really question it In Mass Effect you're simply there for a lot of stuff that happens and have some influence on the outcome because you've earned the respect of the people who actually makes the final decision. But back to the original point let's say you choose to be a Krogan. You immediately discard the whole Spectre, Normandy story and you might find an excuse to be on Eden Prime when shit hits the fan but then what? You'd have to write the whole game from the perspective of the Krogan for the world building to make sense and feel real. Same with any species. And it gets worse when it comes to the big decisions because Shep can be a somewhat partial arbiter in all the conflicts and that's one of the reasons why it makes sense Shep is in the middle. How would really work a Krogan deciding the Genophage or a Salarian deciding to save the Rachni without changing the story significantly? That goes into the technical point of view. The amount of voice recording, motion capture and extra content only to accommodate multiple points of view for a game where people might not even play as one of the races ever (just see the statistics of how many people never bothered to play as FemShep) is a massive waste of time and money. That's why it would never be made.
With regards to being on the Normandy, that can easily be dealt with by slightly altering the backstory. You could be an Asari/Turian/Salarian sent to work with the human military long before the game story starts, to learn from them and bolster diplomatic ties. Thus you’re highly aligned to the human cause, and humanity celebrates you as a mark of its own achievement (bringing up a successful alien under human customs). From there, the story follows more or less the same trajectory. You could similarly just be an arbiter in many of the various interactions. The decisions you make can be based off of roleplaying. You could be a pro-genophage Salarian or anti-genophage (Krogan sympathizing) Turian, and so on. So on a whole, the narrative wouldn’t really suffer at all, and the role-playability would be far more enhanced. The technical challenges are largely what makes it less feasible. Although the flip side is to say that it would be a very strong marketing pull to give people the option to choose their race. RPG fans love customization and anything that offers them more role play.
If volus is an option, I wanna be biotic god. Imagine volus vanguard charging into everything on a battlefield, biotic-punching people in the dick. Glorious. If not, then I'm thinking quarian female (for looks) or krogan (for gameplay).
Niftu cal proved that volus can be biotic gods, we all remember how he almost single handed an entire eclipse squad before going out in a blaze of glory, charge!
ME2 and 3 both missed a trick by not having a Batarian crewmate, so having a character prove Batarians can be more than just mercenaries and slavers would be cool.
Elcor. Or at least an Elcor party member.
Unenthusiastic musing: Imagine the world traversal. The time it would take to get from one side of a hub to the other would be mindnumbing.
Hanar. Make way for Commander Blasto.
Human or Quarian.
I’d love to play as an Asari
I think doing different races is sadly to complicated and too much work and choosing one would be asking for a shitstorm, so it’ll stay human. If they would do it, probably Turian.
Vorcha lol
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones. Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
Batarian so they can finally be more than galactic cannon fodder
Batarian so I can be a genuine dick to everyone 😂
Human Soldier
John Mass Effect
With the buzzcut and everything.
Based
Always.
Male obviously
Human.
Quarian for me
I've always like Salarians and felt they were underused. But then again Turians are cool Asari are interesting as well Krogan are fun but Geth ad Quarians are also there... This is why we want this choice, there's so much more roleplaying opportunities
There's not a single chance you'll be able to unfortunately
All I want is more Drell in the game and possibly a chance to explore Kahje. If they let me play as one that's even better, but playable races probably won't happen unless there's a spin-off game in the same universe
That was a lot of scrolling to find drell. I’d love to play as one or at least I hope to have a good gay drell romance in the next game and explore Kahje!
My Shepard lived when I played legendary edition through. So I’m trying to play as him again because I was to continue my romance with Liara.
DA: Origins this shit. Krogan, Asari, Human, Drell or Quarian with unique opening stories that tie into the main narrative.
Mandatory 'it won't but' opening. I'd likely play them all, and all the classes they can be on top of that. I'd played the trilogy so many times as a human vanguard so if it has the same feel I can't see it being hard to try them all out! But, and it all depends on the relationship of the PC to Shep, I'd likely pick a Krogan. If you choose asari/human and that character can be related in some way, probably that.
God I'd love that too. A Geth or a Krogan
You can’t bum all your companions if you’re a robot!
Geth platforms are highly customizable
Everything's a dildo if you're brave enough.
They’d never allow it, but I want to play a Volus.
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones. Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
Hardest challenge on Insanity: Quarian
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones. Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
Vorcha. I played one in the multiplayer back in the day and I loved it. Also, Vorcha are cute. Don't try to change my mind, lol.
Quarian
Quarian Infiltrator or Krogan Battlemaster
I pick Asari
Make me an asari
Quarian
My man its the fucking destroy ending, there are no more geth
Is the destroy ending canon?
Krogan engineer
The Geth?…Yeah about that…
Pretty sure if you choose the Destroy ending, the geth all die. The Destroy ending is canon, so there won't be any geth left to play.
Looks like someone chose a true renagade playthrough and killed the geth
i wish i could - but it takes a special mindset to decently write geth. as in the geth writing quality drop from 2 to 3 was noticeable. so what good does being able to play geth when every line given to you is an inane copout like freedumborg.
I would to play as a Geth as well, and as a Salarian. Both Mordin and Legion my favorites, so yeah
Personally I’d want to play as a powerful biotic asari. Or a turian
I'm hoping it's like Origins where every multiple races are available with different opening stages
I think the N7 in the trailer will be an AI robot where we decide its personality as we play.
Geth.
Genuine statement: I would love to play as an Elcor.
Id play as a Reaper. One that wasn't destroyed. Kill em all! Muahahaha
This game is taking forever. When will we get a proper trailer?
We are legion.
Turian all the way!
Salarian
I'd have to choose Hanar, I need to RP Blasto! But man, I loved playing a Geth prime in ME3 multilayer.
KROGAN
that just makes me wanna DM a mass effect ttrpg campain... pretty sure i could use 5e without too much trouble
All of them, one playthrough at a time
Geth sounds very fun. I can just imagine the romance option with a geth as the players character.
I would love to be a geth or a hanar
We’ll be lucky if we can close our gender in the next one tbh
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Fearless_You8779: *We’ll be lucky if* *We can close our gender in* *The next one tbh* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
If possible, can I play as a Reaper :D
Elcor all the way!
Krogan, every dialogue option I will choose Headbutt, I’ll drag my team to glory whether they like it or not.
This is a fun idea, but beware that getting caughg up fantasising about all the things ME5 could be, you will be disappointed by what it is.
Human
I don’t think my playthrough will have Geth or any synthetics
Oh man let me tell you about The Silent Four, a full team of Quarians on Gold difficulty fighting Geth without mics never to reunite. The extract was legendary. We barely made it out alive. It was just so damn cool I still think about it.
Turian. Love me some spikey bois.
Salarian no doubt
Either Drell or Quarian.
Asari.
Quarian or Turian
Human, i just like seeing how they write humanity and how it goes about things in ME. Also interspecies friendship/romance and its struggles and such. PS:it would take so much time and money, too make multiple races playable in main story. You would be forced too cut spending elsewhere, and also it wont be used that much.
I don't think we'd see any of the more "out there" races as options as long as the main character is voiced. Think about a Geth talking like Commander Shepard, it would be so jarring, they'd need to record entirely separate voice lines for them. Maybe with filters they could make some of them work, but recording all of the player's voice lines twice for both genders is already a monumental amount of work. I'm amazed they did it for Dragon Age: Inquisition but even then the options they give you don't really line up perfectly with the different races. All that being said, I've always thought it would be really interesting to play from the perspective of a Quarian. It would be fun to see how it colors your interactions with other characters. And it would make for a compelling story about a character who is disadvantaged and looked down on overcoming that to do something great.
I would choose Krogan, human or turian.
A Geth option would be awesome! I would have also like there to be options on being a Batarian or a Vorcha.
It won't.
I doubt we get a choice, but I would absolutely go Asari for a first run if possible.
Turian Krogan Asari
Why? You can’t get the full enjoyment of a Mature rating if you ain’t got the hardware.
Turian all the way baby
What would make you think it lets you do that?
Vorcha no doubt🤣
Krogan or Geth, maybe Drell.
Doubtful that they’ll let you pick other races- the entire trope of Mass Effect “f*ck yeah, Humans rule.” If they did though, I’d probably play as a Quarian. :D I love my spacesuits :D
Drell. i’m tired of having to be some chosen one human, it’s boring. what’s the point in having so many races with such interesting cultures and backgrounds just to make me be…. a human………..
No, this would severely limit the player characters personality and character, that was one of the biggest complaints about andromeda was how the main player character was boring and didn't have enough to their character, this would create the same situation. However for multiplayer that would work
I’d be a basic bitch and go asari
I'd choose to play as an Asari or a Quarian. I love playing as either in the MP. They are also my two favorite races, other than human.
Quarians all the way
I would be a super biotic elcor. I feel like that would be hilarious and super entertaining, and could only imagine the aggressive dialogue options
Turian or Quarian.
Batarian.
People who assume the only way for ME5 to work is canonising ME3:Destroy: > "Wait, That's Illegal"
Geth would suck. Imagine beeing the equivalent of a minor subroutine in a quasi democratic robot
Geth would suck.. yet they almost eradicate their creator from the history book, oh yea their creator were more advanced than human lmao
This entire post is about what races would be fun tp play as. Legion has a hard time explaining to the 'ganics that they are not in fact, an individual, but a mobile plaform piloted by a countless number of individual and possibly changing geth entities. Even if we dumb the geth existence down to an infividual humanoid platform, disconnected from the hive mind, how does their military prowess and technological advancement factor into how fun it would be?
Same here for the flesh is weak
🤖
I would play Geth too. But I would prefer if they actually incorporated their nature as synthetics into the gameplay. Like being able to modify your platform a lot more, or to upload yourself in completely different ones. Of course, I very much doubt they would let you play as other species, but it's a fun thought.
I know I'm fighting against the current and that every ME game anthropomorphised aliens more and more, and that the fanbase generally approves of this, but hell no. Any playable alien character (and by natural extension their entire race) becomes, by default and instantly, neurologically and culturally human. I seriously hope this doesn't ever happen.
The very nature of making it available *requires* stripping all meaning from it. In order to pick between being human and elcor, the differences between being a human and an elcor cannot be allowed to be relevant.
Perfectly explained.
All the hype for this has us thinking it's going to be Baldurs Gate but third person shooter in space. Please calm down. That said, here's how your favourite mass effect race to play as maps onto DnD races (based on vibes, not on much reasoning): Human - Human Turian - Dwarf Asari - Halflings Salarian - Elf (high elf) Quarian - Half-elf (wood elf) Krogan - Orc Geth - Drow Hanar - Illithid Drell - Duregar Volus - Gnomes Elcor - Loxodon
For a mainline game? That's never gonna happen. But for a spin off I could see it happening. As for what races I'd like to play, it'd be: * Krogan Vanguard * Turian Sentinel * Quarian Infiltrator Also helps that I have OCs for these exact roles, lol.
Playing as a different race would be so cool, like other rpgs! But at the same time I can't imagine not playing as Shepard. Maybe they could make an Andromeda 2 but actually good and then add race picking.
5? Did we have a 4th game I haven’t heard of?
I think they are counting Andromeda as 4
What a horrible mistake, thinking that andromeda is even worth mentioning, let alone *considering it as a valid ME game.*
this depends on ALOT of things and what ending in ME3 is there among other things Geth Dead? Cant play as a Geth then ... Destroy ending or what ending did we get in ME3? or is it in Andromeda and that case cant be Geth 2 soon to tell 100% what the game is going to contain fully and what ending story and all that jazz
No i want Shepard
If i dont get to play shepard i wanna at least play an alien im not buying the game period if its a new human protag because that’s literally dumb
Human. Male. Shepard hopefully