Mass Effect 4 leaves Shepard behind

It's so bad!  FIRST soup in COD outed , Then capcom out the dante in DMC and finally bioware  did this TO US !  let's celebrate it :[

I don't know about anybody else, but I'd love to have more information about that First Contact War. I think that would be sick!!!!!!

The Mass Effect Universe is such a rich one in of itself, they don't need to go forward from the debacle of Mass Effect 3 (timeline speaking). I'd love to see something taking place during the Krogan Uprising, the rise of the Geth, Salarian STG missions.

One thing that is very important is to distance themselves from Shepard's crew, to make it seem like somembody else's story....and equally important, multiplayer is not something to be just stapled on like was done in ME3. Either have it, and make sure it's functional, and actually enriches the game, or don't. Don't half job it. (personally I hope it's not on there at all)

For Mass effect 4 could you go to a different galaxy like Andromeda or the Triangulum thorough the use of worm holes? Or have a main character from those galaxies ( kind of like a human)? Maybe the reapers were created by people who came from one of the galaxies in order to have  intergalactic war with the other? There could be like a super reapers who uses stars for energy as one of the main antagonists for one of the games. There are really a lot of possibilities that this series can go with, im excited to see what happens.

Are they going to do something similar to halo bring out a prequel and multiplayer based game then after those two games have been done go back to Shepard for the sixth game in the series with a new enemy? lol 

After scrolling through the comments: I have never heard so much whining in my life.  If you don't like it don't play it.  Move on.  I'm sure all your hand-wringing will make EA or whoever come to your way of thinking.

Wow. Still complaining about the ending.  The EC was fine, move on with your lives.  The mob is gone yet you still have your "Me, too" mob mentality.  They fixed it, you can stop crying.

Glad to hear Casey Hudson is still involved, I think the logical decision would be to take control of either a Turian or an Asari, not another boring human as that would be basically playing as Shep 2, I also think it would be beneficial to either do a prequel maybe before the first contact war, or a sequel where you could even run into Liara as a matriarch. Though a sequel could be very complicated.

After ME3's ending, I couldn't care less.

Well at least now I know to buy the first two games and leave the last one out of my collection... I'll just watch the gameplay on youtube or something so I won't be disappointed with another ending...

Oh, goodness, there was a lot more that ought to have been left out of this franchise...

i wonder if in a few years time that in mass effect fan forums there will be floods of debates on who is a much better commander shepard or the new guy in a similar fashion to star trek fans and who is better captiain kirk vs captian picard type debates 

i want to step into the shoes of conrad verner.

Shepard already has its place on the videogame history and it would be counter-productive trying to milk him like other characters (*cough* MARIO *cough*). Anyway, now its the time to correct mistakes and look forward.

I think it's a good idea. Maybe we can have a Turian/Krogan hero, or maybe one that's had a completely different background. Definitely not a military man (or woman)

this could be a good thing. to see how your decisions effect the rest of the galaxy would be pretty sweet and to see what other things the mass effect endless universe has to offer im glad theres a game franchise like this to just explore endless possibilities is really exciting

'So this will be a very, very different context for sure'

I guess that means same thing with the option to play in Red, Blue or Green color.

Star wars, Star Trek, Mass Effect? Why not it's a wonderful universe and there's many other stories to be told in multiple mediums. Games comics, novels are all good and without Shepard we don't have to worry about a Star Wars situation with fifty novels that follow the Skywalker family line until it's been beaten into the ground.  If they want to expand the mythology, I'm all for it, just keep it fresh.  The universe has already been saved.

why not just end the ME after 3 and make a new ip 

I really enjoyed the Mass Effect series...but I'm currently fatigued by it. The last thing I want to think about is more ME right now. I hope they take a break for a few years and work on something new and original than go back to ME in the future.

they just had cold feet and knew that another story involving shepard could be mortal to them, more so after all the opinions on ME3 story and ending, so they took the easy path and better make another story non-related....typical...

This must be a prequel right? A true sequel, as in the game is set after Mass Effect 3, will be a complete nightmare to write for after 3 games worth of decisions to take into account.

Well, they could always just kept the "Mass Effect" title, just like how Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest did, I haven't yet saw any game studio from the West do this, I wonder why

After thinking about it I realised that ME3 would find it hard to end on a high note.

What made the series great were the choices you made that created a personal experience. However the problem is that the choices we made created more and more complex branching storylines and alternate realities. The first two games were great because they were a lot less complicated for developers to figure out how to create and conclude the alternating storylines.

As we got to ME3 however there was so much to do that some aspects of these realities were touched upon whilst others weren't. The endings didn't help because instead of creating conclusions to the branching storylines they just bunched everything together into a few choices.

Bioware if your going to have another go you need to bear this in mind, this requires more thought and planning than you think. EA do not force upon consumers needless DLC and multiplayer just to make money  and finally NO 'Jessica Chobot' characters.

wow! thats a big step.......just hope it wont spoil my appetite for the future ME games

Wow, they shocked me in a good way. I was sure they'd use Shep until ME19! So glad they are moving on with the serious.

However, it does concern me that they are talking about "very, very different context." Coming from an EA-owned group that just means they are making it more like every other game that's popular, and less like the game it originally was.

I love this!!! I want more and more and more of mass effect!!!!!

Promises by game developers mean absolutely nothing.  That's what I have learned from years of gaming.  The truth is it takes a lot of guts to end on a high.  If there is money to be made, you go make it until the franchise is ruined.  In fact they have started ruining it when they made ME3 the way it was made.

In Mass Effect 7, Shepard returns from hiding and says "Bazinga Bitches!!"

I just hope the new mass effect will be on next gen consoles