Ok, gonna go on a geek rant here about an idea for the direction & story for a possible Mass Effect 5...
So we set it 300-400 years after the end of Mass Effect 3, that way regardless of the ending you chose the galaxy has recovered from the destruction of the Reaper war. For arguments sake I say we go with the destroy ending being the Canon ending. Most of the mass effect relays have been rebuilt but it's still a work in progress, the Humans are now the leaders in the galaxy and respected and revered by most of the other species for being the race that United them all and were mainly responsible for the reapers defeat.
We open on a new planet not seen yet in the milky way, with a new species not seen before. They would be very human like in their appearance but subtly different (think Human / Vulcan for example) they are on the verge of being advanced enough to travel through space as they have visited another planet on their system and started a colony and have just recently discovered the existence of the remains of a mass effect relays which we will discover only partially works.
During the Reaper war they were not an advanced enough species for the reapers to take notice of, (think of us during the 1700's) but are now on the verge as humans were before the first contact war.
The villian of the game would be the batarians, who, led by our main villain a battle hardened but sympathetic Batarians de facto leader who cares for his people deeply and just wants to find them a home as they are still reeling from not just the Reaper war but when Shepard destroyed their planet and mass effect relays in 'Arrival' so he hated humans because of those actions of Shepard. The Batarians invade the new species planet with the intent of making it their new Homeworld, they figured the native species was not space worthy yet so the citidel council wouldn't care.
The main hero of the game would be the son/daughter of the Leader of this species, who is killed by the Batarians commander during their attempted seizure of the planet. You escape to the thriving colony on a neighboring planet and manage to contact the Citidel council using technology stolen from a downed Batarians ship (and key info learned from it's logs)
A Citidel Spectre team arrives to investigate, led by a Human and Turian (who will eventually join your squad) and after a tense standoff with the Batarians retreat with you in tow to the Citidel to inform them of what the Batarians have done.
As the main character you would get to see the rebuilt Citidel through the awe & wonder of his eyes. (Gigantic statue of Shepard in the Citidel of course) you would be introduced to the new galactic council (human, Turian, salarian, Asari, and krogan representatives) the Asari counsellor would be Matriarch Liara T'Soni
The council would obviously provide little help as their hands are tied as they don't condone the actions of the Batarians but the species native to the planet are not a council recognized intelligent species, despite your character being there and pleading with them.
Liara and the human ambassador take pity on your character and decide to help whatever way they can outside the council. You can even have a scene where the Batarian ambassador accuses the humans of showing favoritism to the new race because they look similar to humans, and asking "if I grow a head of hair and pull out 4 of my eyes will your mercy then fall on my race as well?" Also throwing shade because if the humans never destroyed the Batarians home they wouldn't be needing to colonize this new planet in the first place.
The rest of the game would be about finding a way to free your planet from the Batarians occupation by either peaceful diplomatic means or aggressive force. Endings could be finding a way to co-habitat by give the neighboring planet with the thriving colony to the Batarians, or force them to leave of their own accord by using military might and force.
One of your squad can be the daughter of Liara and Shepard who was kicked out of the Alliance military and the Asari commando's for being "too much of a renegade"
The game could get deep into the different sides of the invading Batarians, showing some sympathetic characters who don't want a fight but are just desperate for a home, the main villain himself would be painted as very sympathetic as you see his father being loaded onto an escape vessel as a child moments before the mass effect relays crashes into their home planet by Shepard to stop the reapers. And how he watched his species become galactic drifters, mercenaries, and lose any and all of their history and dignity after the Reaper war.... Show his love and care for his species history and how he has twisted it into hatred for humans, he even can pick the new species planet specifically because they looked like humans and he wanted to take their home from them the same way the humans took his home.
No universe ending disaster or giant looming apocalypse. Just the fate of one person's world.
Maybe throw in a cameo or mission with Grunt as he's the only other original trilogy character who could be alive still.
What you guys think?
So we set it 300-400 years after the end of Mass Effect 3, that way regardless of the ending you chose the galaxy has recovered from the destruction of the Reaper war. For arguments sake I say we go with the destroy ending being the Canon ending. Most of the mass effect relays have been rebuilt but it's still a work in progress, the Humans are now the leaders in the galaxy and respected and revered by most of the other species for being the race that United them all and were mainly responsible for the reapers defeat.
We open on a new planet not seen yet in the milky way, with a new species not seen before. They would be very human like in their appearance but subtly different (think Human / Vulcan for example) they are on the verge of being advanced enough to travel through space as they have visited another planet on their system and started a colony and have just recently discovered the existence of the remains of a mass effect relays which we will discover only partially works.
During the Reaper war they were not an advanced enough species for the reapers to take notice of, (think of us during the 1700's) but are now on the verge as humans were before the first contact war.
The villian of the game would be the batarians, who, led by our main villain a battle hardened but sympathetic Batarians de facto leader who cares for his people deeply and just wants to find them a home as they are still reeling from not just the Reaper war but when Shepard destroyed their planet and mass effect relays in 'Arrival' so he hated humans because of those actions of Shepard. The Batarians invade the new species planet with the intent of making it their new Homeworld, they figured the native species was not space worthy yet so the citidel council wouldn't care.
The main hero of the game would be the son/daughter of the Leader of this species, who is killed by the Batarians commander during their attempted seizure of the planet. You escape to the thriving colony on a neighboring planet and manage to contact the Citidel council using technology stolen from a downed Batarians ship (and key info learned from it's logs)
A Citidel Spectre team arrives to investigate, led by a Human and Turian (who will eventually join your squad) and after a tense standoff with the Batarians retreat with you in tow to the Citidel to inform them of what the Batarians have done.
As the main character you would get to see the rebuilt Citidel through the awe & wonder of his eyes. (Gigantic statue of Shepard in the Citidel of course) you would be introduced to the new galactic council (human, Turian, salarian, Asari, and krogan representatives) the Asari counsellor would be Matriarch Liara T'Soni
The council would obviously provide little help as their hands are tied as they don't condone the actions of the Batarians but the species native to the planet are not a council recognized intelligent species, despite your character being there and pleading with them.
Liara and the human ambassador take pity on your character and decide to help whatever way they can outside the council. You can even have a scene where the Batarian ambassador accuses the humans of showing favoritism to the new race because they look similar to humans, and asking "if I grow a head of hair and pull out 4 of my eyes will your mercy then fall on my race as well?" Also throwing shade because if the humans never destroyed the Batarians home they wouldn't be needing to colonize this new planet in the first place.
The rest of the game would be about finding a way to free your planet from the Batarians occupation by either peaceful diplomatic means or aggressive force. Endings could be finding a way to co-habitat by give the neighboring planet with the thriving colony to the Batarians, or force them to leave of their own accord by using military might and force.
One of your squad can be the daughter of Liara and Shepard who was kicked out of the Alliance military and the Asari commando's for being "too much of a renegade"
The game could get deep into the different sides of the invading Batarians, showing some sympathetic characters who don't want a fight but are just desperate for a home, the main villain himself would be painted as very sympathetic as you see his father being loaded onto an escape vessel as a child moments before the mass effect relays crashes into their home planet by Shepard to stop the reapers. And how he watched his species become galactic drifters, mercenaries, and lose any and all of their history and dignity after the Reaper war.... Show his love and care for his species history and how he has twisted it into hatred for humans, he even can pick the new species planet specifically because they looked like humans and he wanted to take their home from them the same way the humans took his home.
No universe ending disaster or giant looming apocalypse. Just the fate of one person's world.
Maybe throw in a cameo or mission with Grunt as he's the only other original trilogy character who could be alive still.
What you guys think?
![[face_praying]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ignboards.com/styles/ign/ign/smilies/classic/praying.gif "Praying [face_praying]")
![[face_peace]](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ignboards.com/styles/ign/ign/smilies/classic/peace.gif "Peace [face_peace]")