Nine Things We Want In Mass Effect 3

Extinct Species

Four species have been known to be extinct (till now) in the Mass Effect universe- the Protheans, the Rachni, the Zieoph and the Arthenn. But surely they have a part to play in the story, rather than being just in the background. And if not the others, the two more important species, the Rachni and the Protheans, definitely have a part to play. But of course the Protheans have a part to play- they are the Collectors. It was told in Mass Effect 2 that the Reapers genetically engineered them to be their mindless slaves. But does this mean that no Protheans in their original form are left? Have all the Protheans become mindless, ugly human colonies-abducting aliens? Surely not. Surely a few still survive, and are in hiding, reconstructing, regenerating, preparing to help the galaxy in the fight against the Reapers. If that truly is the case, then Mass Effect 3 would automatically become a freaking epic game. Protheans have always been referred to as an unknown, ambiguous, species, but to actually come face-to-face with them would be just plain sick.

As for the Rachni, we had the chance to let the species survive in Mass Effect (1) when we found a Rachni egg on Noveria. If the players chose to let the Rachni queen live, we get a message from her in Mass Effect 2, saying that she is helping her race rise back to power again. And if we don’t let it survive… well, then, who’s to say there aren’t more o these eggs in the galaxy? And of course there have to be more Rachni for the queen to breed… it’ll be kind of hard for her to have children all by herself, you know.

United Under One Banner

The entire galaxy at large is facing imminent doom, as a massive fleet of the hyper-advanced AI, Reapers, closes in on the Milky Way. With such a threat staring all life forms in their faces, they ought to be united under one banner, united against the Reaper threat, ready to retaliate and stop the destruction cycle from happening. But how? The inter-galactic wars that have now been raging on for such a long time cannot simply be disregarded. The quarians and the geth have a problem of their own, the humans have dominated the entire galaxy, and are oft maligned by other races of the galaxy. The “outcast” races, like the volus, the elcor, and the hanar have their own problems, of being subject to racism. Not to mention the fact that races like the Batarians, krogans and the vorcha are never up to any good. With so much politics, wars, battles and quarrels going on within the galaxy itself, how can all the races come under one banner and unite against the Reapers?

Well, Commander Shepard of the Normandy has been known to be a very influential speaker. We can have a dramatic, Avatar-like scene, where Shepard travels from one planet to the other, convincing that the Reaper threat at hand is much more important, and has a higher priority, than their own personal problems. We can have entire missions that have us travelling to certain planets or space stations, where we have to convince those specific races to understand the gravity of the situation- by doing some errands first (save the space station, kill the mercs, hack some info from a very dangerous terminal).

Mass Effect 3 can throw in a very interesting plot twist if players do not manage to convince these species, meaning that either those species will face extinction when the Reapers do come, or the entire galaxy. The repercussions could be heavier than one can possibly imagine.

Looooooooong Campaign?

If BioWare are to explore all the plot points mentioned above- and more, obviously, seeing as Mass Effect 3 is the last game in the trilogy and will have to deal with all the loose ends and questions that the first two games have created- they will have to make a game that is at least almost twice as long as Mass Effect 2, meaning nearing a playtime of 50-70 hours, depending on how in-depth we play the game. And BioWare also have to keep in mind that the story, with so many strands to be converged in the end as a single thread, does not get overly complex, and players don’t loose track of the narrative, with so much stuff going around in the game.

To do that, BioWare will have to invest a lot of time in explaining and finishing up each plot point, which means, again, an extremely long campaign. Which isn’t really a bad thing. And really, BioWare are no strangers to long campaigns.

Nothing New

Shepard dies in the beginning of Mass Effect 2, and Cerberus brings him back to life, meaning that they can technically engineer him to be the soldier they want him to be- this gives the players an opportunity to change the look of their imported Shepard, change his class- but it also meant that the players had to start developing their character from scratch, Level 1. While the explanation was very satisfying, the outcome was not, and maybe even frustrating for a lot of gamers who had spent countless hours on leveling up their Shepard and building his skills. We definitely do not want to start from scratch in Mass Effect 3. If we are importing out Shepard from Mass Effect 2, we want the same Shepard- same face, same skills, same level, same class. Which means, of course, that the level cap in Mass Effect 3 would have to be raised to the original 60 Level cap in Mass Effect.

Also, while the new team and crew in Mass Effect 2 was quite memorable, and featured some rather well developed characters- Grunt, Miranda, Thane, Garrus and Mordin being my personal favourties-, BioWare went a bit overboard with the whole recruiting the crew thing. Counting the DLC team members, we could have a total of eleven members in our team. It’s a bit hard to develop each and every character properly this way, and keeping up with each of them, and actually using each of them in combat was a tough ask. Bring back the characters that survived in Mass Effect 2, and keep them. Don’t give us new crew members, and don’t make our old crew suddenly disappear.

Multiplayer Component

With so much history and background given to support the Mass Effect universe, the galaxy seems like a very believable setting in the games. Plus, Mass Effect games have a huge cast of characters. It seems as if a multiplayer component in an ME game would work brilliantly, adding even more to the replay value of the game. Now I don’t know what to expect from a multiplayer mode in a series like Mass Effect, but we can have our Commander Shepard, with his techniques and skills, imported over to the multiplayer component, as we compete with players around the world. Or we could have the option to become one of the other legacy characters in the universe, which would be unlocked as we gained more experience. Not to mention the fact that credits can properly be used in the online, so that we can buy new gear, armour, vehicles and upgrades with them, and tweak our character until its perfect for online combat.

Though as many people have pointed out, it would take away from the very soul, the very feel of the game- Mass Effect has indeed been a game all about the player, centered around Commander Shepard and no one else, since he is the only one who can save the galaxy from imminent doom. However, I am sure BioWare can work a way around this problem. A multiplayer mode would add greatly to the replay value of the game.

That’s It, Readers!

That’s the end of our list people. How did you like it? Do you agree with our suggestions? Tell us what you think in your comments below.