Mass Effect universe expansion ideaFirst off, obviously ME series spoilers up in here.

Also, this is entirely Mass Effect related. So if that doesn't interest you, I advise you not to continue.

And as a last warning, this is rather lengthy. Perhaps too lengthy, but whatever.

So, partially inspired by a Reddit post (here), here's a concept for expanding on the Mass Effect universe. I really have two concepts going here, but story wise, they're rather similar. I'm not 100% either way, but I'm leaning towards option two.

At this point, I just want to note that I fucking hate the blue coloration in the text fields on this site. Goddamn terrible. Moving to a word processor.

Idea one:

The game takes place far i...

Mass Effect universe expansion ideaFirst off, obviously ME series spoilers up in here.

Also, this is entirely Mass Effect related. So if that doesn't interest you, I advise you not to continue.

And as a last warning, this is rather lengthy. Perhaps too lengthy, but whatever.

So, partially inspired by a Reddit post (here), here's a concept for expanding on the Mass Effect universe. I really have two concepts going here, but story wise, they're rather similar. I'm not 100% either way, but I'm leaning towards option two.

At this point, I just want to note that I fucking hate the blue coloration in the text fields on this site. Goddamn terrible. Moving to a word processor.

Idea one:

The game takes place far in the future. You play as a member of the human race. After the conclusion of ME3, humans (and possibly other species? not sure on this one.... consider this as an option every time I say "human"/"humans") from the Normandy attempt to re-establish society, but are essentially reduced to pre-industrial era means (or perhaps worse, due to inbreeding). EDI becomes essentially useless, with the majority of her systems having been destroyed or damaged from the crash landing. After thousands of years, or perhaps hundreds of thousands, human civilization returns to the point it was at prior to finding its first mass relay (having FTL capability, but no access to mass relays), although maybe without any true knowledge of biotics (perhaps some humans exhibit biotic tendencies, but humans have not yet relearned how to control them). It would also be nice to see some evolutionary changes (positive or negative or neither) here.

However, due to the long period of time (and number of generations) since contact with the rest of the galaxy, humans have become divided into a number of factions. Note that based on the ending of ME3, this group of humans doesn't really know how the conflict played out. Some believe that the reapers did and still exist, and that humans should attempt to contact the rest of the now thoroughly cleansed galaxy to warn new species about the reaper threat. Others believe that the reapers did exist, but think humans should not bother to become involved in the rest of the galaxy. Instead, they should continue to develop their own civilization away from reaper influence. This group may hold the belief that the reapers were destroyed. A subset of this group think the reapers are still around, but that the new inhabitants of the cleansed galaxy would not believe their testimony regarding the reapers. A third faction would deny the existence of the reapers, believing them to simply be a myth. They instead push some form of religious doctrine (haven't really fleshed this group out yet). Obviously, not everyone would be firmly within one of these three groups, and there'd be a lot of people in the gray areas. There would also be several new sapient species that have been discovered, and members of those species would believe the human tales of the reapers to varying degrees.

The player would, depending on background and class choices, have different back-stories (obviously). Possibilities include 1) a scientist that has seen/knowledge of all the evidence of the reapers' existence and human history, 2) an enlisted marine with a family history of service, and 3) a member of some sort of religious monastery from a somewhat isolated, “secessionist” planet of human supremicists. And so our main character would have grown up in areas where one of the previously mentioned factions dominate the population, respectively. Despite the varied backgrounds, the game always starts in the same “hub” city, with the player having differing reasons for being there depending on their background. Maybe there are two key players in the plot that take up the backgrounds not selected by the player? Regardless, the rest of the game would play out with the player having various experiences and doing various things (SO MUCH HAND WAVING GOING ON RIGHT HERE), with the player ultimately having to decide whether or not to align with a particular faction, and also attempt to convince/motivate their civilization to follow their lead (or choose to have no particular impact). The game would conclude just after the climax (where the consequences of your actions would play out). For example, the final shot in a “let's rejoin the rest of the galaxy” ending would show a fleet of ships leaving on a journey to the nearest known mass relay, hoping that they have been repaired either by surviving humans, or by surviving reapers. Haven't fleshed out all the options of the ending here.

Phew. Okay, deep breath. The character limit is coming up relatively soon, so the second concept is going in the comments.