The Protagonist of Mass Effect 4: Who/What Will They be and What Can they Learn From Shepard and Ryder

[Winter]

There are a LOT of questions surrounding the upcoming ME4 but one that I want to focus on is who will be the player character for the game? Some are theorizing that Shepard will return others think that it will be Ryder and some even think that Liara may be the PC.

IMO I doubt it will be Liara as BioWare has consistently had a player controlled character as the lead and I also don't think that Shepard will be the protagonist of the game. I don't think that they won't appear as at least two endings have Shepard survive in some form and it would be nice to give my Shepard some real closure.

Ryder is another matter altogether, the negative reception they received is still very much alive so my money would be them being made a supporting character much like what we got with Hawke in Dragon Age: Inquisition. My bet is that we'll get a new protagonist, one who is intended as the lead protagonist of Mass Effect moving forward and is used as one to unite both the Original Trilogy and Andromeda.

The next question is what will they be. For years fans have been demanding the option to play as any race in ME but I don't think this will happen because of BioWare's insisting that Mass Effect is the story of Humanity and the trailer is all about Humanities journey through the galaxy, from the moon landing to the war with the Reapers. So, my guess is we'll still be playing as a human BUT our origins and record will be once again be left up to us.

And that leads into the final point, what can this new character learn from Shepard and Ryder?

I think the first lesson that should be learned is something that I, and most fans in the series, agree was a massive mistake that was made with both characters, the lack of control over them. In ME3 and MEA you given less control over Shepard and Ryder with a more limited dialogue wheel, a LOT of auto-dialogue and scripted choices where we had no say in what happened in the story. This all resulted in making Shepard and Ryder feel like they weren't OUR characters but BioWare's characters and we were given the great privilege to play them.

Say what you will about Hawke but they were YOUR Hawke. Their personality, motives, love interests and choices were all left up to you and while many things were beyond your control Hawke was always under your control. You could be a paragon of virtue, a ruthless renegade or a humorous rogue or a mix of all three.

Starting with ME3 BioWare started giving less and less control to the players and started dictating the character for us. Now in the case of ME3, MEA and even Anthem this was more of a result of a rushed development as less time meant less chance to write $#!t which meant that choices needed to be limited. I'm hoping that ME4 doesn't make the same mistake but only time will tell.

I also think that the series should return the Paragon and Renegade choices on the Dialogue Wheel but NOT the Paragon and Renegade morality system from the Trilogy. I really grew to dislike the P&R system as it limited by chances to play Shepard as I saw fit. I did my best to try and play the character as morally nuanced as possible but most of the time I still ended up not being able to get certain options. Case in point the "I'm a Specter" during Thane's loyalty mission is an option I've never been able to get no matter how hard I try because trying to keep the system balanced meant I could never go all the way with one or the other so I can't get that one stupid option.

I also don't like how the game gives you a cheat to win ever argument you get in (with only ONE exception) so I never felt like I was endanger of any major tense conversation on the ground that I always had a way to win regardless what path I took.

Again, looking to DA2 I like how the game doesn't punish you mixing things up so while I tend to play Hawke as a sarcastic I like that I don't have to commit to Sarcastic option all the way and can be as kind or a cruel as I want.

But for all the issues with the P&R Morality system I think MEA is worse because of just how BLAND it is. For most of the game you have two options for most conversations like ME3 only now instead of Nice or Mean you now have boring neutral or humorous.

Say what you will about Paragon and Renegade but that system at least made sense. If I like this character I can be nice, if I dislike this character I can express that opinion. One of my favorite moment in the entire series is after escaping the Geth Dreadnought in ME3 and I punched one of the Quarian Admirals in the gut for almost getting me and my squad killed and then told the other Admiral to leave Legion alone because I wasn't going to let her hurt one of my friends. While I was playing this part I said to my sisters "Well, we're making friends all over".

MEA doesn't allow for this, it locks you into being rather passive personality and it rarely gives you a chance to act as you see fit. Someone does something stupid, go along with it or make a dump joke. Someone does something nice, thank them or make a dumb joke. Someone nearly gets me killed, go along with it or make a dumb joke. Over and Over Again with only a few moments that allowed me to be a bitch and those were cases where I DIDN'T want to rude.

Like when Suvi asked me if I was religious the game locked me into be religious or insult the religious person because, as I've mentioned before, bad stories tend to make a big deal about anything it can to make it seem like it has something to say when it doesn't care. I'm not against players wanting to take a pro or anti religious stance but I would like the option of being neutral or uncertain. DAI is a game that has religion as one of the main themes yet you are allowed to have more then two options and DOESN'T reward or punish you either way.

Even in scenes that are legitimately good like this one with Drack


youtu.be/Zfwo2Z8tNtY

Is hindered by not allowing the player more options or the ability to ask questions. Imagine this scene which is about a war veteran being made father and we're allowed to talk about our father and sibling or asking Drack what it was like to be a single parent raising a child.

So, yes, I do want the paragon and renegade system to return but I would also like ME to include DA's sarcastic middle option just to give us more variety and give us the chance to shape our character as we see fit.

Shepard in ME3 was, IMO, a huge step down from how they were handled in ME1 and ME2 while Ryder is, IMO, the WORST Protagonist in the BioWare canon. In order to get the series back on track I think BioWare needs a PC that is almost completely under our control by removing the binary morality system, giving us the option to play as we see fit, give us the ability to be as funny, as kind or as cruel as we want AND to remember that in RPG's the player is part of the writing team as we control the lead character.

Thoughts?

[CharlesPhipps]

I honestly note that the more options the character gets, the LESS the writing makes sense because Bioware completely loses control over the narrative and is not very good at bringing it all back together.

I also hope it's a Shepard clone.

[Winter]

I also hope it's a Shepard clone.

Hm, interestingly enough on the official Mass Effect website Mass Effect Archive the tapestry lists finding and killing Shepard's clone as one of the choices. Maybe the Citadel DLC will be a Innocuously Important Episode as we learn that Shepard was cloned but we aren't aware of that, making it a major twist.

Like the marketing has it were it seems to be Shep but it's a big question as to how it's them but we get little hints dropped in the core game like certain characters reacting differently to you. It could work and fit with the idea of this being a rebirth for Mass Effect yet again.

[Madner Kami]

Ryder is off in Andromeda and won't make a direct appearance. Can't make any direct appearances. Shepard is gone. S/he had her story, leave it be at that, cameo and reminiscing is welcome though, but not as the protagonist. Stop treading the same paths over and over again. Stop wanting to do that. Start exploring.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ryder is off in Andromeda and won't make a direct appearance. Can't make any direct appearances. Shepard is gone. S/he had her story, leave it be at that, cameo and reminiscing is welcome though, but not as the protagonist. Stop treading the same paths over and over again. Stop wanting to do that. Start exploring.

Allow me to throw out some Wild Mass Gueses:

1. I expect Liara to resurrect Shepard with some bullshit nonsensium super-tech.

2. It will be a century later.

3. At some point, they will open a jump gate that will link the Milky Way to Andromeda as a new map.

[Winter]

Ryder is off in Andromeda and won't make a direct appearance. Can't make any direct appearances. Shepard is gone. S/he had her story, leave it be at that, cameo and reminiscing is welcome though, but not as the protagonist. Stop treading the same paths over and over again. Stop wanting to do that. Start exploring.

Allow me to throw out some Wild Mass Gueses:

1. I expect Liara to resurrect Shepard with some bullshit nonsensium super-tech.

2. It will be a century later.

3. At some point, they will open a jump gate that will link the Milky Way to Andromeda as a new map.

Espically since the lead develop has all but confirmed that ME4 will continue MEA along with the Original Trilogy which is backed up by what we see in the trailer. We see the Andromeda galaxy, we hear of arc six which was unknown to us until this trailer and a brief mention of anomalies being detected throughout a system.

While I suspected that MEA would be left behind given that the tapestry on Mass Effect Archive is including MEA as part of the choices instead of focusing on just the Trilogy does seem to be pointing to the return to Andromeda.

I have to admit that I always respect a series when it chooses to followup on stories that weren't that good because there's always potential in said stories that could be made great if given the chance. I've mentioned my Rewrite of ME3 which was what I would have wanted if ME3 (and only ME3) was rebooted because I honestly didn't see anyway forward for the series, not with BioWare refusing to acknowledge ME4's endings and MEA being a critical and financial flop.

But then came 2020 and in a rare instance from that year I saw hope for the future. When the trailer for ME4 was released it wasn't just a trailer for Mass Effect but a promise that BioWare wasn't going to beat around the bush anymore and that the series was going to move forward. Maybe it won't work but I always respect a series trying to build something from a questionable foundation.