Will Mass Effect 4 Have a Clone Shepard

[Winter]

Consider the following points.

Shepard has a evil clone, this is canon. In the Over lord DLC David shows Shepard his memories and we've seen two cases of transferring of consciousness or memories is possible as shown in the Control ending and when Shepard enters the Geth consensus, this is canon. And there are creatures that can use a form of mind-control and can see and share memories and have an interest in Shepard in the Leviathan DLC, this is Canon.

At the end of the teaser for ME4 Liara finds a N7 armor piece and smiles as she looks on the horizon but some time since Mass Effect 3 has taken place and ME4 is all but confirmed to be a sequel to both the Original Trilogy and Mass Effect: Andromeda with Mass Effect Archive including the choices of MEA in the Tapestry along with the choices of the Trilogy.

And in one or two interviews Jennifer Hale has hinted at her possible return to Mass Effect though this could just be her joking around.

But what if she wasn't?

I mentioned this in another post here but the idea of Shepard returning as a clone does have potential. From a out of universe POV it allows fans to reconnect with the series by bringing back Shepard, no need to try and make a new protagonist which the game needs take time to establish when we already have a character we connect to.

From a in universe standpoint given how much emphases the series has put on Shepard it would make sense that someone would want to bring them back in some form and found a way to transfer all her memories from her last moments up until the Crucible and put them in their new body thus allowing all your choices to transfer over.

And from a character standpoint this gives us the chance to ask if this is truly Shepard or just a copy. After all Shepard wasn't overly found of their evil clone so what would their/our thoughts be on playing as a clone. Are we just a copy or our we still the person we were from the Original Trilogy.

Thus we come to the final point, Meta. We are Shepard, we carry the feelings and memories from the Original Trilogy so what does a clone of Shepard mean to us. Is this still our Shepard or is he/she someone new?

I'm not sure if this will be done but given BioWare is trying to get fans back into the series being allowed to continue Shepard's story while also keeping their death intact from the Trilogy doesn't seem like a horrible idea. I for one would want Shepard to see the world their choices created and to maybe find a way to undo the damage of ME3's endings.

Thoughts?

[Madner Kami]

If Shepard is the protagonist, I will not buy the game. The wo/man had her story and deserves some rest for fuck's sake. Stop treading the same fucking paths over and over again.

[TGLS]

Honestly I think the only way to get around all the decisions made up to ME3 would be to make ME4 a prequel.

[Winter]

If Shepard is the protagonist, I will not buy the game. The wo/man had her story and deserves some rest for fuck's sake. Stop treading the same fucking paths over and over again.

I get what you mean and I'll admit I'm not really sure I would even want a Shepard clone and I would much rather have a new protagonist. BUT, I would also be okay with the Shepard clone as I personally hate how Shepard's story came to a close as it was an ending that was forced upon me to suit the story BioWare wanted to tell, my choices be damned.

Again, I'm not for or against the idea I'm just saying it could happen and from a marketing standpoint it would make sense because Shepard is an iconic character and bringing them back in some way would get most fans excited for the next game which is important because, at the end of the day, this is a product that has to make money. And what better way to insure you have a chance of making that money then "Shepard Returns"?

[Draco Dracul]

Honestly I think the only way to get around all the decisions made up to ME3 would be to make ME4 a prequel.

I mean to me the obvious answer to this is to make a canon timeline.

[Winter]

Honestly I think the only way to get around all the decisions made up to ME3 would be to make ME4 a prequel.

I mean to me the obvious answer to this is to make a canon timeline.

I think the only canon thing that will be decided is a single ending but our other choices should be canon for whomever made those choices. For example, I cured the Genophage and United the Geth and Quarians but others choose sabotage the Genophage Cure and let the Quarians die those choices should be remain without our choices.

And something that has the potential to be great is that thanks to Andromeda there are ways around those endings WITHOUT undoing player choices. We know that several Krogan were starting to buildup a immunity to the Genophage and that several Quarians are in the Andromeda Galaxy. So, if ME4 is looking to continue the choices of ME3 and MEA there is a way for us to have our cake and eat it too by virtue of BioWare trying to get around the ending of ME3.

[Draco Dracul]

Honestly I think the only way to get around all the decisions made up to ME3 would be to make ME4 a prequel.

I mean to me the obvious answer to this is to make a canon timeline.

I think the only canon thing that will be decided is a single ending but our other choices should be canon for whomever made those choices. For example, I cured the Genophage and United the Geth and Quarians but others choose sabotage the Genophage Cure and let the Quarians die those choices should be remain without our choices.

And something that has the potential to be great is that thanks to Andromeda there are ways around those endings WITHOUT undoing player choices. We know that several Krogan were starting to buildup a immunity to the Genophage and that several Quarians are in the Andromeda Galaxy. So, if ME4 is looking to continue the choices of ME3 and MEA there is a way for us to have our cake and eat it too by virtue of BioWare trying to get around the ending of ME3.

The way I see it is that you invalidate the player choices either way. If the Quarians will survive and the genophage will cease to be a factor regardless of Shepard's choices you might as well just say he saved the Quarians and cured the genophage.

[Winter]

The way I see it is that you invalidate the player choices either way. If the Quarians will survive and the genophage will cease to be a factor regardless of Shepard's choices you might as well just say he saved the Quarians and cured the genophage.

True but at the same time this CAN be an advantage from a storytelling perspective. Sure, some of the Quarians survived and there are Krogans that are beginning to become immune to the Genophage. BUT they will come to a galaxy where, if you sided with the Geth and Destroyed the Cure for the Genophage, has left them the last of their kind and seen.

I mentioned on another post that, for all my issues with his character, I liked what Javik added to the world of Mass Effect by showing us what the Protheans were really like. Now, the Quarians and Krogan find themselves in the same situation, two races that were once believed to be dead have returned and they find a world that sees them in a different light with some things being lost or altered by the result of time marching on.

BUT if they live they will return a galaxy were the Quarians either have retaken their home world or have made peace with their enemies and the Krogan will see that a galaxy were they have been cured of the plague that drove them to near excitation and could very well be at peace with their enemies.

This is why I see this as a great way to have our cake and eat it too, yes the Quarians and Krogan are likely going to go on in some form BUT all the Quarians from the Original Trilogy and Wrex and the Krogan as we knew them are STILL gone and their not coming back and those who return are now find out that they are the only hope for a future for the worlds they lost.

Yes, our choices are, in a sense, being undone but I don't see it as the same thing when BioWare made a novel to explain why Anderson was no longer on the Counsel in Mass Effect: Deception. That book exists just to undo our choice so BioWare could tell the story they wanted to tell which is why it was so frustrating (in addition to just being a bad book).

But I don't have the same issue with MEA as it was intended to be a soft reboot to the series so it tried to work around our choices that way. But now, BioWare has a way to explore our choices through the eyes of the ones we thought dead or helped to give those returning hope for what comes next.

However, there's no way of knowing this until we get more information on ME4 but between Mass Effect Archive's Tapestry and the Legendary Edition likely using the same save file transfer system for the Trilogy so our choices to carry over to ME4 so, it could happen.