Mass Effect 4

Mass Effect 4 is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and Vedewan for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlaStation 3 and Playstation 4. The game will be released on October 17, 2016, and marks the first chapter in the New Age trilogy of the Mass Effect franchise.

The combat system in Mass Effect 4 has been altered slightly and overall refined, with the core mechanics staying the same. In particular, the cover and melee systems have been improved, prompting smoother and more exciting gameplay. Improved artificial intelligence was introduced, as well as a sixteen player multiplayer mode which has been added to the already existing four player co-op mode. Gameplay in Mass Effect 4 can be influenced by decisions made in the past three games who have imported their save files.

Gameplay
Aspects of gameplay from the previous games have been changed, such as an improved melee system with the option to equip an omni-sword, and a biotic stiletto which prove for faster and more reliable melee combat. An element of stealth was added as an optional path, improving on the primitive stealth system from the Mass Effect 3 DLC: Citadel. A more expansive skill leveling process was introduced, with much more perks, advantages and other options. Player's criticized the amount of effort put into side missions in Mass Effect 3, prompting the developers to put more time into side missions and space exploration, with over 85% of landable planets being free to explore. The squad system from the past games has been altered to fit the story, there is a maximum of one follower at a time, and the player may choose to play the game solo.

Mass Effect 4 has a larger focus on combat than any other game in the franchise, with an average 60% of game time spent in combat. Roleplay elements have been improved upon too, including Paragon/Renegade decisions while in combat, which can be triggered by saving/killing a civillian etc. Each landable world has a special story of it's own.

Multiplayer
Mass Effect 4 changes the four player co-op mode from "Galaxy at War" to "Combat Refinement". The end of the Reaper War signifyed an age of peace, leaving the galaxy not at war, but at peace. Most soldiers either needed training to defend against terrorists, petty criminals or gang fights. Most larger threats have been long gone since the Reaper War. Vedewan Studios improved upon the co-op mode, creating a more diverse range of maps and enemies, as well as adding a few new elements to the system.

Mass Effect 4 also features a sixteen player multiplayer element, called "Gang Wars" which focus on the criminal element still present in the Mass Effect universe. Most battles take place on criminal ridden areas, such as Omega, Illium and the wards of the Citadel. Gang Wars is an eight vs eight PvP mode, where teams must work together to either steal enemy supplies, invade enemy territory, exterminate enemy gangs and much much more.

Plot
''Note: I can't actually be bothered putting my story into fully built paragraphs and such. I'm lazy, young and I hardly have any free time. Also, you might be familiar with my previous 'Mass Effect 4' idea. Well, this overwrites that. You can prefer the other one over this idea (however they are similar) but this is my entry for Mass Effect 4. Please note this is not my final write-up. I'll add more details/plot points inbetween. Happy reading. -VeteranCookie (talk) 03:20, December 10, 2013 (UTC)''

-Shepard awakes, lying still on Earth. The Reaper War continues, regardless of Mass Effect 3's ending. Shepard gets up, he/she sees Anderson lying on the ground, motionless. Shepard continues to the beam. Shepard gets flashbacks while traveling up the beam. Shepard arrived in the Tayseri Ward. Shepard has to fight all these Cerberus agents that hide in the shadows. Shepard grabs an X3M (skycar) and drives it to the Citadel Tower. Unfortunately, he passes out to his wounds, and crashes. He coincidentally crashed in the Presidium. He awakes again, and activates the crucible with the console thing that is used at the end of the first game. What happens next depends on what you have done in the past games.

-You'll get a number of different cutscenes, (I'm lazy, so I won't write them all out.) After the cutscene finishes, you'll return to a Shepard that is exhausted, but conscious. You'll see a foot step on Shepard, and a gun point to his head. The screen would fade out, and a gunshot would be heard. TITLE SCREEN SHOWS!

-You are simple merc named Ghost, and has a massive reputation for being ruthless, cold and calculating. Nobody has seen your face, and rumours have spread that you are responsible for killing Commander Shepard. Because of this, you aren't allowed to traverse most 'hubs' freely, and usually you will have to use a back door.

-Although Ghost is cold and calculating, his personal affairs are unexpected for someone of his nature. Ghost does not even know his own true past. Normally he would create false backstories for himself. Although his mercenary life takes priority, he also is on a quest to find his true identity. Ghost takes passage on an Eclipse ship, as he is a respected figure throughout the Eclipse mercenary group, although he does not work with them.

-You have to assassinate different targets, and you will recieve some information about what has happened over the past few years, like where Shepard's crew has gone. A few of them have tried hunting Ghost, like Garrus, Ashley (Kaidan won't hunt if alive), Wrex (Wreav will not) and Jack. You'll end up with random encounters with all of these characters. After a while, you can choose to stop the attacks by the characters by either killing them, injuring them so bad that they can't return to combat forever or to temporarily injure them.

-You slowly learn that you are being influenced, controlled or indoctrinated by a figure that goes by the alias of 'Revenant'. Their species is unknown, as is everything else about them. On your hunt for them, you encounter a Geth (fans of the series would recognise that it sounds and acts like Legion). This Geth, who has adopted the name of "Myriad" helps you and becomes your third squad member. Slowly, your hired mercenaries will become more loyal depending on how you treat them, for example on missions or on the ship.

-The location of 'Revenant's base is located on Earth. Ghost and his now loyal crew would launch an attack on the base, dropping in from the sky to avoid detection. This attack is similar to the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, but instead you call in your crew to drop in whenever you want. You would also have to select crew members to do certain activities, such as hacking doors and flanking. During this assault, there would be stealth elements where you can choose to progress stealthily, but you have the option of going loud at any time. If going stealthily, enemies that are left behind will deter you during your escape. During this mission, downed crew members have a 30 seconds to be revived before their perma-death/capture (depends on their skill/loyalty/affilations). This number is reduced to 10 on the Insanity difficulty.

-You enter Revenant's personal room, and you see Admiral Hackett. He is talking to somebody through his communicator, and it sounded like he is talking to somebody ranked higher than him. The person was telling Hackett to eliminate '411' or that he would eliminate Hackett. Hackett tells Ghost that he knows who he is, before being violently electrocuted from inside his body, with the unknown person laughing in the background. Ghost quickly reacts by throwing off his helmet. The screen shows Myriad, who is also in the room. His head light turns from white to blue/red/green (depending on Mass Effect 3's ending, except it is all inverted. Destroy - green, Synthesis - blue, Control - red.)

-Post Credits Scene when game is finished on Insanity: It shows a doctor, Miranda if alive. She gets off a call. She then calls another person, who is from Shepard's squad (Garrus, Grunt, Mordin, Jacob etc). That person comes up behind a human that looks like Shepard (Male or Female) and incapacitates them.

Missions
Most missions are located on Omega, Illium, Citadel Wards and other cities.

Random Encounters
Random encounters from 'Hunters' would occur at anytime, later on in the game they can even work together and infiltrate your ship. Sometimes, during an assassination contract you would be stopped by a hunter, allowing your target to escape. Hunters are Garrus, Grunt, Jack, Jacob, Zaeed, Ashley, Vega, Wrex and Javik. There are three options for dealing with them; Killing them, which would not add to your infamy, but would stop them from attacking you forever. Ghost also has the option to injure them beyond repair, heavily adding to your infamy, but would also stop them from attacking you forever. The last option would be to temporarily injure them, slightly adding to your infamy and delays their next attack.

Contracts
Contracts are various randomly generated missions that allow you to earn money. These contracts can be interrupted by random encounters, but these contracts can be revisited at a later time, albeit in a different setting/location. Depending on how you execute the target, you will receive different amounts of credits, for example if the contractor wants the target to suffer, you will earn more credits for making them suffer. The way you go about completing contracts is up to you, but different styles will result in different consequences. Besides your infamy, there is proffesionalism. Executing a contract as it is requested and on time will result in a higher proffesionalism rating. If you execute your contract brutaly (for example, slow deaths) your infamy rating will be raised.

Reputation
Ghost's reputation is a major mechanic. Your infamy will change the behaviour of enemies. With a higher infamy rating, less trained enemies will become cowards and run or surrender, while more trained enemies will become more determined to kill/capture you. Your proffesionalism rating will change the behaviour of contracts. Certain contracts will only appear with a certain proffesionalism. Both of these ratings can increase and decrease at any time. You can decrease your infamy rating by going silent for some time, which either means not killing at all or killing very carefully. Another option is to kill important individuals that are making your name known.

Crew
During the course of the game, you will encounter different individuals that will offer to join you, whether it be for money or loyalty. At the start of the game, Ghost operates without his own ship, and instead takes passage on an Eclipse mercenary cruiser. When Ghost recruit an individual, they will follow you until you dismiss them, and they would return to their original location. As soon as you buy your own frigate, once you dismiss a recruit they will return to your ship. However, if some recruits are not already on your frigate, you will need to return to their location and tell them to live on your frigate. Even though you house them on your ship, you would still need to pay the mercenaries that require credits to follow you.

Ship Battles
After you buy a frigate, you may encounter random ships while exploring. Some ships are agressive and attack you on sight, and you can choose to escape or fight. Ship combat is similar to the ship combat mechanics used in ''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. ''You can upgrade your ship for durability, attack damage and types of attack. When escaping, the perspective will turn into a third person over the ship. To escape, simply navigate towards the mass relay. At anytime during the escape you can decide to return fire, and vice versa (you can escape in the midst of battle). Some ships are neutral and will not attack you on sight, but you can still attack them and they will fight back. Once any enemy ship is down to very low health, you can board them with a choice of two crew members. When boarding, you have to eliminate the commander and do two actions that are designated once boarding commences (destroy armory, capture pilot etc.) After your victory, you have three options, to spread the word of Ghost, repair your ship and send to your fleet (which can be used later).

Save Game Transfer
Due to next-generation consoles, some players may want to transfer save games between consoles. Bioware released Mass Effect Save Uploader which uploads your Mass Effect 3 save files to your Origin account. Using this, you can transfer your game saves between any platform, even consoles not in the same family (for example, Xbox 360 to PS4). The Mass Effect Save Uploader was distributed through Origin, XBLA and PSN for free.

Impact from Mass Effect
Rachni Queen: If saved, an additional squad mate is available to recruit.

Wrex: If alive, Wrex will become a hunter of Ghost

Ashley/Kaidan: Ashley will become a hunter of Ghost. Kaidan is encountered in the Revenant base.

Council: Enemies are less intimidated if the Old Council is alive.

Impact from Mass Effect 2
Loyalty Missions: ''Impacts on Mass Effect 5. ''Zaeed can be a squadmate if not loyal to Shepard.

Suicide Mission: Some survivors will become hunters/part of the Insanity ending. Miranda is part of the Insanity ending.

Collector Base: Extra equipment available.

Impact from Mass Effect 3
Krogan/Salarian: 2 krogan squadmates if chosen, 1 salarian squadmate if chosen. Different dialogue choices all around.

Geth/Quarian: Squadmates, dialogue choices, appearances. (No geth seen if you chose Quarian etc.)