Attention Institute Personnel! "Templin Shorts" is a bit of a break from our usual format, an attempt to produce episodes quicker so we can talk about recent events across alternate worlds. Expect fewer facts, more mistakes, and more opinions! This is something of a pilot for the series, so please let me know any criticism or comments you might have!
I must say, this version would propably be most suited for the green ending. In fact, a plotpoint that could exist is that both sides try to sway the reapers ,who are helping to rebuilt the mass relays, to either side with one side or the other or at the very least proiritice reconstruction of relays that either help a fection while hampering the other. And yes, I hate the red ending, I am a supporter for the green as I myself am a transhumanist at heart.
The Templin Institute has moved on from merely exploring alternate worlds and is now actively trying to influence them. This organization is far more powerful than any of us ever knew!
I was thinking about this recently, they could develop a storyline that a rogue operative is trying to destabilize some or all these worlds or a rival faction shows up and they have to stop them. Kind of like a meta storytelling event that toonami does.
The only mass effect game we'll get is one that's live service. One, the original talents that made the SP series great are all gone. Two, given the disaster of the last SP entry and the profit margin of live-service IPs, EA wouldn't waste resources on another risky SP reboot.
I like this idea, but considering that the Mass Effect universe always likes to give you three choices when it can I feel like a third should be presented. Something along the lines of humanity forming its own faction with the quarians and or all of the minor races. Becoming a Third, stabilizing power that can buffer the other two.
Hey Templin, could you do a video about COD advanced warfare? I know it isn’t really space-ey, but COD is one of my most hated games and it was really enjoyable to have someone completely wipe the floor with it
@@michaelandreipalon359 Do some people think it is from the series? Just gamer poop of course, but hilarious, fitting, and Mark Meer himself seems to love it too
I’d like to see how the batarians are doing. I imagine if they were kind of forgotten by the Citadel races, there would be a sense of bitterness there. Their race was nearly driven to extinction by the Reapers, after all.
I always disliked how in arrival, you destroy that colony. I headcanon that its just the relay that's destroyed. The colony itself is still there, just completely isolated. It's either a great setting for an anthology of stories about batarians dealing with a reaper invasion that nobody sees coming or (if the reapers just drift on ignoring the now effectivly removed system) a pocket of batarian civilisation suddenly and unexplained cut off from the galaxy.
That would be interesting: The Systems Alliance, and we humans with it, being the kingmakers in a cold war between two powerful alien factions. I could especially see Asari diplomats and spies swaying key SA leaders through....ahem.....certain techniques. A cold war story would be very interesting overall.
Absolutely. I actually really liked the original idea for Andromeda but obviously the execution left the whole thing a little sour in most people's minds. There's still a lot of cool avenues there though.
@@KingsandGenerals That's been pretty much confirmed by all the internal shit that came to light after. They essentially had to start over, and ended making the bulk of it in only about a year and a half. Jason Schreier's story on the whole thing is quite telling, I wouldn't usually recommend the rag that is Kotaku, but give it a read.
Maybe a look into the Asari discovery of the citadel, the Rachni war, the Krogan Rebellions, the Quarian/Geth Morning War, or the First Contact War. A Mass Effect game in the Milky way wouldn't necessarily have to focus on humanity. Some of the races were exploring the stars hundreds of years before humans first walked on the moon, there is a lot a good team with creative ideas and imaginations could do with this series.
I personally entertained the idea that they should make a series of games where you play as shepard's squad mates between the events of me1 and me2 like playing as garrus where he finally leaves the citadel and heads to omega and forms his own vigilante posse right until he loses all of them thanks to sidonis or palying as liara and her collaboration with cerberus in a race against the shadow broker and the collectors to recover shepard's body.
Yeah in the first game it wasn't as human focused as we were he little guys compared to the other races Somehow by three it seemed like humans were just as powerful as the other citadel races despite being an interstellar civilisation for a few decades compared to them being there for millenia If its human focused again it will disappoint a lot of fans
@@Madesic I would actually love to see the First Contact War explored. Humanity having a starring role (alongside the Turians, of course) would make sense here.
@@TheSuperRatt That would be awesome, then seeing humanity slowly open up into the galactic community as we don't know much about that period Either make it entirely human focused as you suggest or not focused so much, not the weird mix at the moment
I personally think the control ending would be the easiest to change/retcon perhaps they could change it to leave Shepard and the reapers fate ambiguous to set up a galaxy scarred by the reapers without any universe breaking changes (that would majorly divide the fans) aka synthesis or the loss of an entire sub-genre (AI/the Geth)
Should call this series “The Templin Institute: Telescope” as it focuses in on one particular thing in a way different from the other series, like using a telescope to look at one star rather than using your eyes alone to stare at the stars as a whole
Yeah when they remaster the game they should straight up redo the entire ending. Krogan and Salarian on the same side is a terrifying proposition. But as I don’t have any better ideas I don’t mind any direction they take the ME universe I just wanna spend more time there.
@@Marcel_Augustin what? when? where? Was it control? I feel like control with shepherd pulling the reapers back into dark space to mostly just vibe isn't terrible for sequel material
@@RaidsEpicly Theres an ending that heavily implies that Shepard uses the Reapers to become a space dictator saying something like "creating a world where the weak no longer get in the way of the strong"
I feel that the BEST option (that i can imagine at least) is continuing from the "destroying reapers" ending. The setting would be a milky way that suffered extreme damage, with entire planets destroyed and the even the mass relays are lost. This would logically be a time of great chaos and it's basically perfect because it gives the opportunity to start with a clean slate with a story that could either be about rebuilding society or about how the galaxy is more divided than ever now that the common enemy is gone.
Love that idea but I think it would be really hard to find a good middle ground on other things that (may) happened in ME3. Such as peace between the Geth and Quarians, the genophage, etc. But I'd love to play a new chapter that's focused on the Milky Way.
@@corvin161 I guess they will decide which version was most played and\or which one is better for their story. For example i'm 100% sure that they will go with the peace with quarian and geth option because they would never kill an entire species forever (and piss off a lot of fans). In general i expect the paragon choice to be the canon one, basically just like it happened for knight of the old republic 1 and 2.
@@corvin161 I actually think this would make it easier. If you’re a human with the systems alliance, you’re not going to find the Quarians or Turians or Asari anytime soon, and by the time you do you can easily work with a lot of it. By choosing the destroy ending, the Geth are gone anyway, meaning Rannoch is still pretty desolate but regrowing. Palaven is a shit storm but the people are alive. Tuchanka will either be a desolate wasteland of warring factions led by Urdnot Wreav, a desolate wasteland with females as the most important resource led by Wreav, or the beginnings of a peaceful society led by Wrex. The only stickler is the Normandy and Shepard. The Normandy is stuck somewhere with the Relays down and the ship heavily damaged, and Shepard is half alive in some rubble on Earth. So tldr; the destroy ending deletes a lot of choices anyway, making the narrative far easier to streamline for branching paths, especially if the story is simply about reconnecting relays
I honestly hope that if they did this they picked Synthesis. I feel like it's the most interesting option of the 3 to further explore, even if it's description is rather vague.
Ive always wanted a huge standalone title that takes place entirely on the Citadel. Could really flesh out the various wards and cultural melting pot action going on. Endless story potential.
During the 3rd game when discussing reversing the genophage im pretty sure the Salarian government threatens to withdraw their support against the reapers if Shepard cures the Krogans, so theres some severe bad blood still, i think the most likely alliance for the Krogans is the Humans out of all the main species, common bad history with the Turians, Humans werent involved in the genophage, and Shepherd was a Big part in reversing the genophage (if thats canon) and knows a lot of important Krogan political figures
@@Yingyanglord1 something to do with dark matter and how organics using biotics was accelerating the heat death of the universe. Remember in ME2 the Tali mission where they where investigating a sun that was dying too fast for some reason, something to do with accelerated entropy. The entire route was altered since someone hacked them found the direction they wanted and asked for ransom money. Result they just abandoned that and went where they did.
@@soul1d If true, that could have made for such a better ending, and split of choices at the end. You wind up proving the Reapers right, but they realize it too late. Or changes are made to harness it properly like the Reapers have (which could also lead to how the catalyst takes them down, but exploiting their use of it). And so many other threads more varied than what we got.
@@ThatSpecificIndividual side effect of biotics that no one was aware of happening. My info is limited since it was not brought to fruition but there was gonna be some way to stop it or reverse it. Uncertain to say the least.
ME2 established that there’s a whole bunch of unconnected species in the terminus system maybe have a terminus analogue to the council fight against the council races since they would be in a weakened state following the reaper war
Haven't the mass relays been destroyed? That would change everything. Decentralized power would erode the council races' control across the vast galaxy
If I remember correctly, in the revised ending they released just after the original launch the lore around the relays was changed to them being 'damaged', not destroyed. They'd need some elbowgrease and headlight fluid, but were capable of being repaired by the milky way civilizations.
@@exilestudios9546 Building a new netwrok that isn't a reaper bottleneck is probably a good idea. And with access to the Odyssey drive (from ME:A), thet're not even necessary.
The cold war plot can still feel galactically significant. This new war is a war for Shepard's dream of a united galaxy victorious over the Reapers. Do they find a way to discard their grievances and return to peace? Do they let the dream die in ashes and return the galaxy to a bustling pack of competitors? Do machines and organics finally learn to understand one another? Do they return to fighting and prove the reapers right? Etc
about the Mass Effect games.. personally, I would like to see an expansion of the Andromeda route. heck... would be nice to see how the Andromeda game would have turned out, if it had gotten the same love and resources as the main series.
Agreed, besides the obvious flaws, I was actually really interested in the idea of meeting an entirely new species and how the know races interact with them. Also how the colonies would interact with the homeworlds of the milky way galaxy. lots of story telling opportunities.
I feel that a prequel series could also be used to sidestep the ME3 endings, I think spacedock mentioned a space combat game fitting in very well in that setting. Maybe have the story set in the immediate aftermath of the first contact war with humanity just beginning to discover the wider galaxy. Maybe the conflict with the Batarians could be expanded upon, maybe the conflict in the Skyline Verge wasn't as black and white as the codex portrays. Or perhaps you can have a story set somewhere out in the Attican Traverse as human colonies struggle to survive and thrive in their volatile neighborhood. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that Mass Effect can fit almost any story someone might want to tell, and I feel like allowing other kinds of creators to make those stories would do wonders for the Mass Effect franchise, it doesn't always have to be an action RPG.
I would like to see an almost post apocalyptic setting where every species is rebuilding, both literally and metaphorically, new image or "empire"as such for itself
Love the concept - both for 'short' videos and a cold war mass effect. Especially the shorts. If there's one thing that's made me love this channel, it's the way you guys weave in your personal opinions into it without preaching - even when I personally disagree with your thoughts, it always makes me look at it from another viewpoint and just makes it *more*. So keep up the good work!
Keep in mind there's actually 4 endings, the 3 colours and the "failure" one too. I can't remember who wrote it but I saw this on the Mass Effect Reddit years ago. The author pitched the question "What if the reapers were some kind of test?" in a similar vein to the vaults from the Fallout franchise. Each galaxy had it's own set of "reapers" with it's own set of objectives. There would be some work around needed to explain how each galaxy gets the numbers it needs and what created them, regardless the example he used for Andromeda was "what if the Reapers were benevolent?" We from the Milky way spent thousands of years fleeing a war due to the reapers and their servants only to come face to face with more in Andromeda. How would the races of the Milky Way react and how would they push past their biases? That story alone had way more depth and made for a more interesting read than any of Andromeda turned out to actually be. Again some retcon would need to occur to allow this but I don't think many people would mind all that much.
I just want a Mass Effect game where you can choose your character's species, with the differences in how others interact with you and what choices you can make, even if that means a single stand-alone game with a small scale story that's mostly insignificant for the wider universe.
A Cold War styled conflict would actually be a great spin, there’s a number of directions the story could go and plenty of interesting story potential. Would also give you plenty of excuse to visit different worlds as you seek to stop any potential conflict or work towards working with one side. You could even have party members from the different sides, creating even more dynamic interactions. Very good idea over all, I like it.
Mine idea for this was instead of the council divided but with the quarian, krogans, and rachni making there own alliance with could rival the council as the quarian have enough ship to outnumber the council and the krogan and rachni biology could take them on planetside with the system alliance either a defunct government (capital was kill off and udina dead) or spilt between the council despite having a seat and the quarian, krogan, and rachni faction(a thing that all these race have in common is being oppress by the council in some way)
1:50 ; In regards to the idea of one ending being made the "Prime Ending" there are two other likely possibilities: 1.) They do an _XCOM_ and have the Reapers 'win', forcing the survivors to play a game of "cat and mouse" to survive. 2.) They make up an entirely new ending or combine aspects of multiple endings [like the MEHEM mod(s)].
Wouldn't it be possible to just do control and have the reapers leave once they rebuilt the galaxy. That would probably be safest one that steps on the fewest toes
The way it seems, it looks like 90 percent of the playerbase want the next game to be a direct sequel to ME3, playing once more as shepherd and company, but unfortunately it seems that almost all game journalist sites want it to be set 600 years in the future and a sequel to Andromeda. Guess who bioware will pay more attention too.
Mass Effect has three jumping off points with the three skittle-flavoured endings: If you go with the Synthesis ending then you can explore some really interesting ideas on what it is to be a person, maybe some kind of synthesis vs non-synthesis people or something, but it would be very cerebral and I think hard to make a fun game out of. If you go with the Control ending then you literally have a galactic force of machines which can do anything you ask them to. This could lead to lots of amazing constructs and settings, but makes conflict (for story purposes) harder. You could write something about how in the much farther future the Reapers have started to malfunction and break-down, and no one knows how to repair the technology, plunging the galaxy into a dark age (à la Foundation by Asimov). Here it is a race against time to explore and uncover the secrets of the Reapers tech so that the galaxy doesn’t fall apart. Or maybe set it during the dark ages and the player is tasked with reconnecting the galaxy. This makes it harder to have returning characters, except maybe Liara. I think the Destruction ending has the most potential for interesting storytelling. In my idea, you start the next Mass Effect game in the reconstruction and rediscovery period, a few years after the end of ME3. Your overarching storyline could be political machinations on the Citadel regarding how the galaxy should be organised into the future (similar system as before, maybe a unitary state instead, dissolve the council entirely etc) and you as the protagonist have to choose who to support and who to help. Obviously the conflict stems from those you disagree with and who decide to not play by the rules, use violence etc. This allows you to conduct small side missions on a variety of small planets, moons, and stations to bring relief and supplies, reconnection with the wider galaxy, but also conflict has planets which were under the control of one of the political factions (Turian, Krogan, Salarian, Asari, Systems Alliance, etc) do not want to rejoin, and instead be independent. You could also bring nuance by showing that the rulers of some of these planets want independence to maintain their powers but the people don’t, or vice versa. There could also be research missions into Reaper tech, investigating Prothean ruins more, that kinda thing Basically doing properly what Mass Effect Andromeda completely failed to address with its ideas of exploration and colonisation but doing it in a galaxy that we as the player are far more attached to, with some returning characters we can relate with, argue with, fight for or against. What do you guys think? Also sorry for the wall of text. Also Also these should be called Templin Takes.
Love the idea of Templin shorts being introduced to the channel. This would give needed content in between major Works that require more time and focus.
What I'd consider the canon ending is the Destroy option. I know, RIP EDI and the geth. But Shepard's goal from the first game's end was ending the Reaper threat, and destroying them is the best way to do it. Also by removing the geth and EDI (and other AIs) from the equation makes it easier to write the story. What do we know about the species of the galaxy? - the krogans are the wildcard, because you had options with them, therefore their role would be reduced, maybe adding just background info. You could have cured them with Wrex or Wreav leading them, or sabotage the cure. If sabotaged, they are basically dying out slowly, not a factor, if cured, if Wrex leads them, they probably are more restrained, sticking to their own nearby systems, and rebuilding, if Wreav leads them they probably do the same while arming up, to prepare for an eventual war. - Rachni - since you could destroy them, if they are alive they are probably vanished into uncharted space to live their own life. - humans and turians - the obvious two most active and well regarded species during the reaper war. Both hit really hard, that weakened them significanlty, but they were the first to actively fight and make plans against the Reapers. Their word would have the most weight in the era after the war. - salarians were trying to not get involved that much in the Reaper war, sabotaging the genophage cure, and the like. And that should show. If you sabotaged the cure, they helped out a bit more, but that wasn't much. Still should make them look a bit better. If you didn't, they are looked down by the other species more and won't get as even as much say. MAybe even some parties who tried to help out (like the STG) would have issues with their government, leading to a schizm and a civil war? could be interesting. - the asari, well they can be blamed for a lot, they held back a lot of information that could've made a lot of difference during the war, all for their own superiority. I think this should lead to an overall general regret in the asari society, causing them to withdraw from galactic decision making. But still help in anything needed. Could be shown as several other species npcs treating asaris with contempt. - quarians are another wildcard, since they could've been wiped out. Few players would chose that, but still. They were helpful after they took back Rannoch, so that must count. But as they just took back their home planet, and are without the geth helping them, they should be focused on building their home, not much else. - batarians - they are pretty much wiped out. What little group are left of them probably settled down on one of their own world, and not doing much, just try to stay alive. The whole war changed their attitude toward other races for sure. - volus, elcor, hanar, drell, vorcha - they didn't change much, still the supporting factions. At least they helped in the war from the get go, so that could elevate them a bit more. - yahg and raloi - The yahg are still a bit far from spaceflight as far as I know. The raloi could join in, as the new species, since they were discovered not long before ME3, but as the war broke out, they destroyed all their satellites and broke all contact, so the Reapers would ignore them.A raloi squadmate could be an interesting one, and also one who'd you could explain how things work, easy implementation for exposition. So this would be the base of the next game for me. The new Galactic council is basically led by turians and humans. Every other species have representations in the council (not just the 3, then 4 main), but these two have the most weight and the others defer to their decisions, especially the asari. The krogan and quarian don't really having much role f they are alive, they are rebuilding their homes. The new problem could arise from splinter groups that doesn't like this new galactic government. Or could be about wanting to pull the Terminus systems into this government, with many hurdles. I'd set the game years after the ME3 ending, after most of the Relays are fixed, so most of the worlds are in contact again. Honestly, what I liked in Andromeda was making the planets liveable, so that would be something they could go for. Helping out different species rebuild or resettle, but sometimes you can't help everyone, you have to manage where to send help and resources, etc. The still damaged relays could be interesting, reactivating them and making contact with the colonies there, seeing how they did while they were cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
One dynamic of the Mass Effect universe I really love is the optimism of sentient life, technologically advancing toward a more sophisticated society, working to find mutual goals... very utopian, but far more difficult to write than the standard dystopian future of monkey clans with tech sticks.
the format is nice. the pitch itself...i think there are enough stories we all would like to know more about that were mentioned within the games so far. the krogan offense, the geth wars...maybe even the protheans..
I actually love the exploration idea in andromeda. Exploring the stars find new places to call home. Space exploration is amazing to me and i love the idea of experiencing it
They bungled it up by having no interesting civilisations though. You got the borg/reaper ripoff kett (its supposed to be a shocking revelation what exhaultion is? Snore) and those agoran whose bare bones culture is revealed to be artificial as well.
I like this idea, because it means having to deal with a lot of the ramifications of what was done or what was discovered in Mass Effect 3. I'd like to see a few things addressed, particularly 1) What becomes of the remnants of the Batarians now that they're bordering on extinction, and 2)What is the fallout from the discovery that the Asari had been hiding a Prothean beacon in the Temple of Athame for two thousand years, despite the fact that it violated a Citadel law they actually wrote and demanded others follow?
The issue has been raised a few times, but I want to give my own spin on it: in my opinion the destroyed relays basically give you two options, either a post reaper scenario, focussed on a small set of systems (maybe you wouldn't even have to address the ending dilemma if it's some far of location with minimal reaper contact), or at least a few hundred years later, when a new way of intergalactic travel was developed, or is still in the process of developing.
I would like to see the aftermath of the Reaper Wars, but the problem is that you have to select a canon ending and throw away the other two. Still, there's always a multiverse approach. Also, there is potential for smaller side story types focusing on other characters or expanding on previously established backstory. Anyway, I like to see more impromptu shorts from time to time. If you want a title other than Shorts, how about Templin Media Break? Or Templin Quickies?
Smaller stories in a universe like this is something I crave. Too many franchises feel the need to go global (or in this case galactic) or nowhere. It's frustrating because eventually scale stops mattering anyway.
To me though the sense of urgency is really an integral part of the series since Mass Effect 2 and I can't imagine a Mass Effect, looking at you Andromeda, with a jovial tone regardless of the events that happen.
Always love more Mass Effect content. The idea of a Cold War esque scenario would be interesting. Especially with a shattered galaxy post Reaper war. Given what we have seen with older Liara being shown and finding the piece of N7 armor, I wonder if that striving for the legacy of Shepard could be part of the new game. Let’s you see familiar faces and locales, and what happened to the Normandy crew while being able to do something different. Especially in a Cold War context, maybe your striving for more galactic reunification between the two sides and Shepard’s legacy is part of that.
I'm really glad you made this video and brought up the points that you did. I have long been a proponent that your conflict does not have to be an existential crisis for the fate of the world to be a good story. It only has to have to strong sense of tension and emotional effect on the audience. Look no further than The Witcher 3 for instance, Geralt trying to find his daughter. I wish more writers would understand that and be willing to tell other types of stories within their settings and not just about the fate of humanity.
I think an interesting idea would be the introduction of a Third Faction. There are two things to take into account. First It's stated in lore that Most races have only mapped around 1-4% of the galaxy even with the relays meaning there may be areas which no one knows about. Second, the Reaper invasion was for them disorganized. The usual plan was to take control of the citadel, shut down the relays and isolate each system. Here they had to attack from an awkward position giving the races time to recover regroup and keep their supply lines and communication. They still paved through but it was more difficult than it had to be. So what if there was another race the Reapers were fighting one that lacked ties to any of the other factions, and because resources were so stretched they didn't make as big of a priority. One that in the midst of every council race being winded and recovering became an upcoming power in the galaxy.
I really liked the sound of your idea about a Cold War sort of story taking place in the aftermath of the Reaper War, I think that could be really interesting and allow for some really fun and interesting questlines exploring new worlds, new races, and new factions. The idea I've been thinking of for the future of Mass Effect is that it would be set a few centuries after the Reaper War, the Citadel Council has been reformed and the mass relays rebuilt to some extent, though some still remain inactive leaving entire star clusters isolated from the rest of the galaxy, especially in the Terminus Systems. While the Citadel races have been rebuilding, the races of the Terminus has united under a mysterious faction that has formed its own government, repaired mass relays and begun to militarize. So the threat of the new stories would be from this 'Terminus Empire' that begins its expansion outwards, bringing it into direct conflict with the Citadel Council over a series of desirable star clusters, perhaps with new fledgling races? Anyway, that's my idea haha.
As someone who genuinely liked Andromeda (post patches), I don't want them to completely abandon that storyline. I would like to see something that bridges the two galaxies. Maybe some breakthrough in FTL travel makes the centuries long trip between galaxies a relatively easy thing. Maybe there is now growing tensions between the traditional governments back in the Milky Way wanting to bring the Andromeda colonies back into the fold and the colonies not wanting any of it. The story would be centuries after the Reaper Wars, so the political landscape of the Milky Way galaxy would be completely different. Maybe that's where the cold war idea comes in and which ever super power claims the Andromeda colonies' support can tip the balance of power in their favor. It's also worth mentioning that in the teaser trailer they released, it was mentioned by the devs that it was no mistake that both galaxies could clearly be seen in the opening shot. So they obviously don't want to just drop the Andromeda arc.
I like the new format, and would welcome more videos along these lines. As far as your pitch goes, I like the idea of digging into the difficulties of a postwar galaxy in the ME series, and Humans are likely to play an important role, especially given the Citadel now resides in Earth orbit. I wonder about the postwar blocs you defined though. I would probably put Krogan and Turians together, since they are both more militaristic, bore the brunt of frontline battle against the reapers, and became significantly closer diplomatically due to the Turian diplomatic support for a genophage cure (which the Salarians opposed) and the Krogan sending reinforcements to Palavan during the reaper war. This could lead to Turian support for Krogan expansionism destabilizing the galaxy and alienating the Salarians and Asari, who typically use more covert methods rather than standing military forces, but between them control the bulk of the galactic economy. We could see Asari commandos and STG teams attempting to stir up discontent among the Turian protectorates and trying to sow disunity among the expanding Krogan clans. Humans, Quarians, and Hanar would be the most important non-aligned powers, and the whole conflict could take place in the backdrop of galactic reconstruction after the devastation of the reaper war, and a likely rise in extremism connected to the horrible trauma suffered by so many of the Galaxy's inhabitants.
I have to admit, this is the best scenario for Mass Effect going forward but I think it would be interesting to see a game set *before* the events of MS. I wouldn't mind seeing a story about the first human C-Sec officer on the Citadel, dealing with space crimes, conspiracies and the political struggles after the First Contact War with humanities first ginger steps into the galaxy being watched with scrutiny by the Counsel races. Honestly, I just love the idea of being able to explore the whole of Citadel Station as you could build an entire game there.
This sounds awesome. I really like the idea of a cold war. I actually have a dnd group in the mass effect universe, and the party is a group on Omega just trying to make their way in the galaxy. Joining mercs, getting into fights and being involved with batarian slavers, the campaign has been really interesting, yet really small scale. No mention of reapers.
For me, I always preferred the control ending, since the star nations of the galaxy would be stranded without mass relays for a shorter amount of time. So in my head I imagined the Reapers now calling themselves Shep*herds* (that sounds a little more cartoonish now that I type it but whatever). But like, with Shepard’s personality being annihilated but their mind staying intact, taking the role of a guiding, shepherding hand galaxy wide would be the new overmind’s prerogative, more than likely helping to rebuild the mass relay network after its destruction
The Terminus systems are basically made for smaller scale conflicts that feels bigger, also you can have side missons exploring the cold war in former citadel space
I have a post-reaper war headcanon that I hope to use in a TTRPG someday. It's a lot similar to yours but the 2 main factions are different. obviously, after the war, the homeworlds of the council will take priority in regards to reconstruction. which would likely create resentment from people who live in smaller colonies. so think the OPA from the expanse Vs the Citidel counsel.
I cant remember if they ever explained why if you had enough War assets at the end of the credits you got a scene with rubble and you hear a breath happen and its moves a little!! They have to address that before I dive back in the Main story!!
I would point to the fact ME2 is by far the most beloved entry in the series as proof that those "smaller scale stories," when well told and tied to the develop of well-fleshed out characters, is exactly what most players want. Especially if you can tie them into a Dirty Dozen style set-piece in the end. Something that may or may not actually BE large stakes. But it seems such because everything you do along the way matters and pays off at the end.
i think that the best way to move foward is with the destruction ending. Having the Mass Effect relays destroys is what made traversing the galaxy a matter of hours. If they are destroyed, the movement between regions of space now must take days or weeks. Without the ability for a ship to travel from the Citadel to Omega in about a day severly impacts the reach of nations to project power, meaning the regional capitals will have much more presence. This would in turn make the Milky Way feel much more larger. We could see more splintering between factions of the same species, worlds in the Traverse or the Terminus systems becoming major players, much more border fricction (like in Stellaris, where distance is the main factor alliances and war), and cultures developing in more unique ways depending on the people living there. The developing of new ME relays could be a sort of weapons race, like the atomic race during the cold war. Personally, I would love to have a more settled galaxy, about 100 years after the battle on Earth. That way we have a more fresh and distinctive scenario but still close enough that the events of the Reaper war are still felt, since many of the veterans even between humans and turians might still be alive.
The Yahg becoming spacefaring would make for a good pivot point for galactic politics turning on its head, with how the various species react to it, and whatever the Yahg do (probably conquering everything in sight, from how they were described before).
I would like to see what the different alliances do or build past the one relay that was the home of the reapers. The technology or even resources there could add a lot of different things to the mass effect universe in many ways - good and bad. Could see how the different worlds use things and see if anything spirals out of control.
I honestly think you could expand on the Javik sleeping soldier concept and make a decent one off story about it. In aftermath of destruction ending some Prothean fail safe triggers and a vast prothean conquest sleeper fleet shows up to get to the business of rebuilding their empire. It avoids the existential annihilation trope and has some built in complexities to mine like the Asari religion.
I think an interesting idea to blend into your story or even be the main story of your setting would be weaponizing Crucible technology (with the parallels of the Crucible being the atomic bomb of the Mass Effect universe).
Got a better idea. How about the first contact war? The first human and alien contact that resulted in a small scale skirmish. Almost an all out war. Could be a good dlc as well
As much as i love the investigations (which is a lot) i always like incoming a bit more, these templin shorts are a pretty awesome bit of extra content
It could also go like managing after reapers things like some planets still having some reapers stuff like zombies at least and trying to find reapers technology to help in rebuilding the galaxy
I think the biggest question is adding races to play, just like Dragon Age. It would be interesting to see Bioware throw 2-3 Mass Effect games, all with a different central character but a some sort of relation between them all to give you that feeling of a wider galaxy.
I like the idea of the cold war thing happening. Although I’m not really sure about which sides would work with one another and such. I also have a couple of pitch ideas for myself. One idea would be probably even though it’s probably not a good idea a form of prequel. Maybe something focusing on the life and career of David Anderson leading up to the first mass effect game. Maybe it could start with him being a low ranking officer set during the first contact war. And then it ends with him acting as a training officer for the N7 program. You could even Have the story end with something that would tie the original series into this one. Like for instance you could have Anderson come running into a locker room on a ship that is heading for a training area or some thing calling for the cadets or recruits or whatever they’re called to Hurry up and head out to the Muster point. The camera could then show either the back of or the feet of a unidentified recruit. Anderson then calls for the recruit to go with him. The recruit stands up grab something out of their locker and then close his locker before walking off camera showing us that the locker belongs to Shepherd. Another idea could be similar to mass effect Andromeda but instead of leaving the Milky Way galaxy it could simply be set hundreds of years into the future. As was stated in the video itself given the fact that there are three potential endings for the original series it would definitely make any sequel set in the Milky Way difficult. They would need to decide which one of the three endings would be considered the canonical ending. Personally I would prefer either the synthesis or control endings to be the canonical ones. I don’t like the destruction ending. Mostly because depending on your level of readiness when you actually undertake the overall Battle of earth you will either just simply destroy all synthetic life in the galaxy or you will basically destroy not only the synthetic life but a large amount of life on earth itself. But again I really like the idea of the cold war scenario. And the possibility of maybe the systems alliance being the wild card.
It would be awesome to have a Mass Effect game set during the first contact war. I think that could be a really interesting way to go and it would take care of the which ME3 ending problem
I know doing prequel stuff can be risky and your talking about Mass Effect going forward but what about a game set during the First Contact War? Maybe playing as a colonist turned resistance fighter who joins up with Anderson? That would be great!
How strong are the Tennos of Warframe when compared to other Sci Fi super soldiers like the Spartan IIs, Space Marines, Adeptus Custodes, Forerunner Promethean Warrior Servants, and the Guardians of Destiny?
It’s easy to miss but in ME1, a Codex entry mentioned human colonies that departed 🌏 before mass effect drives were developed and these colonies eventually made contact with the citadel. I started drafting a script for Mass Effect 4 in which the player character is from one of these backwater colonies that missed Commander Shepherd, Turians, the Reaper War-all of it. However, decades after the Reaper war, the colony gets caught up in the violent postwar era as the consequences of ME3 unfold such as a Krogan civil war between the heir of Wrex and a more violent irredentist, the bartarians clawing back from extinction seeking to rejoin the galaxy they once shunned, Rannoch rebuilding and so on. I kinda envisioned a sort of Futurama fish-out-of-water dynamic for the player. You’d work on a starship owned by a crazy salarian professor, pal around with a Geth, get to romance a hot batarian, find some new alien races, visit the rachni queen on their planet, engage in or fight off space piracy, all with more in depth role playing mechanics. I’d still like Mark Meyer back no matter what.
I like the idea of a fractured Citadel Council, looking internally for the next ME series. Maybe we could start off by seeing the Council still whole and missions you go on helps in the formation of your coalition with your choice of allied races. And by the halfway point of the game, the Citadel Council is dissolved and the galactic map becomes a 3 or 4 way power struggle with your coalition, a separatist movement, a major criminal faction that took advantage of the political strife, and maybe a few neutralists trying to stay out of the way.
All great ideas, and a great video, I would definitely enjoy that game. I can understand the Citadel Government system (and wider galactic unity) breaking apart after the revelation it was all a trick by the Reapers. Id be nervous/unsure how to proceed too. Maybe the Citadel was damaged/destroyed and there are some suggestions of repairing it. I like the idea of engaging with these new alliances and ideologies throughout the game, meeting new races each side are trying to woo, until eventually needing to find a lasting solution to the escalating proxy wars and skirmishes. Alternate endings: 1) Back the Asari/Turians, 2) Back the Krogan/Salarians, 3) Reconcile their differences and rebuild the Citadel Council government, and 4) Semi-hidden alt ending of Humanity playing both sides and taking over everything for themselves. Make it so.
I could also see it do like the novels for post Dominion war Star Trek did. In that one the three major powers in the area (Romulans, Klingons, and Federation) ended the war closer together and with massive increases in their military forces. This made many smaller powers more fearful of domination; especially from the now hegemonic Federation. So they form a Alliance of their own. This leads to new tension as they try everything they can to strengthen their position while damaging the powers while they are still somewhat exhausted from the war. Its a cold war but one more like if all the smaller nations in Africa and South America united to take on US and USSR together.
I loved Mass Effect. I don't really know what should become Mass Effect after the story of Shepard, however, I'd really like the idea of making a game about the First Contact War or the Skyllian Blitz, or even on the past of humanity before the Alliance, between our era and the discoveries on Mars. This universe has so much lore to speak about that I don't even know where they must continue the franchise. xD
An idea for naming the "shorts" is. Exploration of the Templin's Files. Here you can say that the data was already gathered by the Templin Institute and your exploring the possible timelines after the fact?
I like these shorts as I am always interested in your opinions on the latest developments. As far as you idea on the future of Mass Effect, I would love to see a Cold War style follow up to the series. I would personally see it more likely that the Salarian and Asari would align against the Turians and Krogan since the Salarians were reluctant to cure the Genophage and the Asari stayed out of things as long as possible due their secrecy. But that is just my personal opinion. Regardless, I would love to see how the Hanar, Elcor, Batarians, and the other races would respond to this political climate. And we all know Aria would be smack in the middle of everything.
In my opinion, not only because it's my favored ending but also because it leaves a possible continuation for how the galaxy adapts to the new age, the Shepherd Lives ending or simply the Destroy Ending sounds like the most likely to be cannon. One of those two, even if it takes place decades later. I also like the cold war idea! Smart with these "Templin Shorts"! Also, who is that at the end- oh...
Like your suggestions. I personally think they should just the "control" ending for canon lore, have the reapers appear in the game, but doing the galactic equivalent of "elephant labour" and dialogue about what they were and what there doing now. That way new player's would interested and veteran players get a ninth doctor dalek vibe. (Stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit, I'm getting old. etc) Then have a DLC were we meet AI Shepherd.
Templin Institute should do a series of videos on the Legend of Zelda series and lore. If ever there was a confusing timeline and world needing exploration and explanation, that’s it.
The best way would be to focus on the most appreciated Star Wars content that takes place after "the big thing" aka the Emperor's death and observe what made it most appreciated. Not all of it (please not the Emperor's clones), but the things fans fell in love with, like politics and struggle for power.
Attention Institute Personnel! "Templin Shorts" is a bit of a break from our usual format, an attempt to produce episodes quicker so we can talk about recent events across alternate worlds. Expect fewer facts, more mistakes, and more opinions! This is something of a pilot for the series, so please let me know any criticism or comments you might have!
Mass Effect more like Ass Maffect am I right gamers?
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Superior title for next time
@@bombocrusty4251 *Sighs, Loading Shotgun*
I must say, this version would propably be most suited for the green ending. In fact, a plotpoint that could exist is that both sides try to sway the reapers ,who are helping to rebuilt the mass relays, to either side with one side or the other or at the very least proiritice reconstruction of relays that either help a fection while hampering the other.
And yes, I hate the red ending, I am a supporter for the green as I myself am a transhumanist at heart.
Might I recommend ‘Templin Briefings’ as a name? Keeps with the theme somewhat
@@martinconway8174 Makes sense to me!
The Templin Institute has moved on from merely exploring alternate worlds and is now actively trying to influence them. This organization is far more powerful than any of us ever knew!
I was thinking about this recently, they could develop a storyline that a rogue operative is trying to destabilize some or all these worlds or a rival faction shows up and they have to stop them. Kind of like a meta storytelling event that toonami does.
@@judaegekikamen4223 I for one welcome our new rouge overlords!
All hail the Templin Institute
Tell that to the Necrons - hoping that they don't hear you!
The only mass effect game we'll get is one that's live service. One, the original talents that made the SP series great are all gone. Two, given the disaster of the last SP entry and the profit margin of live-service IPs, EA wouldn't waste resources on another risky SP reboot.
I like this idea, but considering that the Mass Effect universe always likes to give you three choices when it can I feel like a third should be presented. Something along the lines of humanity forming its own faction with the quarians and or all of the minor races. Becoming a Third, stabilizing power that can buffer the other two.
I like this idea the most.
I like it.
Cold war had the non aligned movement.
Three way Cold War
Would the krogan and Salarians work together? Easier to see the krogan and the batarians. I like the idea of a 3rd faction headed by humanity.
How about "(The) Templin Dispatch" as a name?
I like it!
Hey Templin, could you do a video about COD advanced warfare? I know it isn’t really space-ey, but COD is one of my most hated games and it was really enjoyable to have someone completely wipe the floor with it
@@TemplinInstitute make it happen mark
Or the Templin Bulletin.
I like the name
Templin: you don't have to keep raising the stakes, you could even lower them
Hollywood: ...what?
somehow, the reapers returned
@@TheHowlingEye Oh gosh, don't even kid
That Shepherd voice over at the end
**Chef kiss**
We'll bang ok?
@@michaelandreipalon359 Do some people think it is from the series? Just gamer poop of course, but hilarious, fitting, and Mark Meer himself seems to love it too
@@michaelandreipalon359 Seriously? People actually believe I said 'We'll bang OK?' or that Kirk said 'Beam me up, Scotty'
They gave us what we didn’t know we wanted.
I loved that ending, well done "I have no particular feelings on the Templin Institute" Ha golden.
I’d like to see how the batarians are doing. I imagine if they were kind of forgotten by the Citadel races, there would be a sense of bitterness there. Their race was nearly driven to extinction by the Reapers, after all.
I always disliked how in arrival, you destroy that colony. I headcanon that its just the relay that's destroyed. The colony itself is still there, just completely isolated. It's either a great setting for an anthology of stories about batarians dealing with a reaper invasion that nobody sees coming or (if the reapers just drift on ignoring the now effectivly removed system) a pocket of batarian civilisation suddenly and unexplained cut off from the galaxy.
That would be interesting: The Systems Alliance, and we humans with it, being the kingmakers in a cold war between two powerful alien factions. I could especially see Asari diplomats and spies swaying key SA leaders through....ahem.....certain techniques. A cold war story would be very interesting overall.
You should call them Templin Briefs. They are quick (brief) informational meetings (briefings).
This.
Pants.
It sounds like Templin underpants to English ears.... 🤔
Nice timing. :-) They should bite the bullet and continue Andromeda story. There is potential there.
Absolutely. I actually really liked the original idea for Andromeda but obviously the execution left the whole thing a little sour in most people's minds. There's still a lot of cool avenues there though.
@@TemplinInstitute I can't prove it, but that game probably had tons of cut content.
@@KingsandGenerals not too mention the quarian arc dlc never happen that despite it name was to bring Eclor volus and hanar and maybe drell
@@KingsandGenerals That's been pretty much confirmed by all the internal shit that came to light after. They essentially had to start over, and ended making the bulk of it in only about a year and a half. Jason Schreier's story on the whole thing is quite telling, I wouldn't usually recommend the rag that is Kotaku, but give it a read.
@@Killerpixel11 I have read it. Awesome example of investigative journalism.
The Templin Institute Shorts isn't a bad name, but there is room for improvement.
Prophecies, simulations, predictions,...
I'd say "Memos" keeps the institutional theme and its vauge enough to allow any topic.
How about calibrations instead of shorts
Templin Institute briefing, keeps the idea of the original name but adds the Tempin Institute flair
@@InForTheLonghaul I associate it with Tesla Short Shorts
Maybe a look into the Asari discovery of the citadel, the Rachni war, the Krogan Rebellions, the Quarian/Geth Morning War, or the First Contact War. A Mass Effect game in the Milky way wouldn't necessarily have to focus on humanity. Some of the races were exploring the stars hundreds of years before humans first walked on the moon, there is a lot a good team with creative ideas and imaginations could do with this series.
I personally entertained the idea that they should make a series of games where you play as shepard's squad mates between the events of me1 and me2 like playing as garrus where he finally leaves the citadel and heads to omega and forms his own vigilante posse right until he loses all of them thanks to sidonis or palying as liara and her collaboration with cerberus in a race against the shadow broker and the collectors to recover shepard's body.
Yeah in the first game it wasn't as human focused as we were he little guys compared to the other races
Somehow by three it seemed like humans were just as powerful as the other citadel races despite being an interstellar civilisation for a few decades compared to them being there for millenia
If its human focused again it will disappoint a lot of fans
@@Madesic I would actually love to see the First Contact War explored. Humanity having a starring role (alongside the Turians, of course) would make sense here.
@@TheSuperRatt That would be awesome, then seeing humanity slowly open up into the galactic community as we don't know much about that period
Either make it entirely human focused as you suggest or not focused so much, not the weird mix at the moment
People usually prefer human protagonists, but it could be solved by having the protagonist be abducted from Earth like Star Lord or something.
"...Krogan clans and the salarian union on the other..."
Something's wrong, I can feel it.
@MasterChief 117 Or the Salarians are studying and testing Reaper Indoc tech on the Krogan to gain dominance that way.
The ancient Volus return to reconquer their galaxy.
"I am a biotic GOD" - Niftu Cal
Let the true lords reign once more!!!
Babylon 5
I personally think the control ending would be the easiest to change/retcon perhaps they could change it to leave Shepard and the reapers fate ambiguous to set up a galaxy scarred by the reapers without any universe breaking changes (that would majorly divide the fans) aka synthesis or the loss of an entire sub-genre (AI/the Geth)
Love Mark at the end!. Thank you and honestly I love the format of just talking about ideas you may have. I loved the idea of the alliances.
Should call this series “The Templin Institute: Telescope” as it focuses in on one particular thing in a way different from the other series, like using a telescope to look at one star rather than using your eyes alone to stare at the stars as a whole
Yeah when they remaster the game they should straight up redo the entire ending.
Krogan and Salarian on the same side is a terrifying proposition. But as I don’t have any better ideas I don’t mind any direction they take the ME universe I just wanna spend more time there.
They will not do that.
The remaster will have no changes.
They are working on the new Mass Effecr.
@@Skullbrothers Also, they don't have to, because they kind of established the canon ending.
@@Marcel_Augustin what? when? where? Was it control? I feel like control with shepherd pulling the reapers back into dark space to mostly just vibe isn't terrible for sequel material
@@RaidsEpicly Theres an ending that heavily implies that Shepard uses the Reapers to become a space dictator saying something like "creating a world where the weak no longer get in the way of the strong"
I feel that the BEST option (that i can imagine at least) is continuing from the "destroying reapers" ending.
The setting would be a milky way that suffered extreme damage, with entire planets destroyed and the even the mass relays are lost.
This would logically be a time of great chaos and it's basically perfect because it gives the opportunity to start with a clean slate with a story that could either be about rebuilding society or about how the galaxy is more divided than ever now that the common enemy is gone.
And player would be an explorer trying to reestablish communications with seperated planets and communities? I like this idea
Love that idea but I think it would be really hard to find a good middle ground on other things that (may) happened in ME3. Such as peace between the Geth and Quarians, the genophage, etc. But I'd love to play a new chapter that's focused on the Milky Way.
@@corvin161 I guess they will decide which version was most played and\or which one is better for their story.
For example i'm 100% sure that they will go with the peace with quarian and geth option because they would never kill an entire species forever (and piss off a lot of fans).
In general i expect the paragon choice to be the canon one, basically just like it happened for knight of the old republic 1 and 2.
@@corvin161 I actually think this would make it easier. If you’re a human with the systems alliance, you’re not going to find the Quarians or Turians or Asari anytime soon, and by the time you do you can easily work with a lot of it.
By choosing the destroy ending, the Geth are gone anyway, meaning Rannoch is still pretty desolate but regrowing. Palaven is a shit storm but the people are alive. Tuchanka will either be a desolate wasteland of warring factions led by Urdnot Wreav, a desolate wasteland with females as the most important resource led by Wreav, or the beginnings of a peaceful society led by Wrex.
The only stickler is the Normandy and Shepard. The Normandy is stuck somewhere with the Relays down and the ship heavily damaged, and Shepard is half alive in some rubble on Earth.
So tldr; the destroy ending deletes a lot of choices anyway, making the narrative far easier to streamline for branching paths, especially if the story is simply about reconnecting relays
I honestly hope that if they did this they picked Synthesis. I feel like it's the most interesting option of the 3 to further explore, even if it's description is rather vague.
Ive always wanted a huge standalone title that takes place entirely on the Citadel. Could really flesh out the various wards and cultural melting pot action going on. Endless story potential.
I find it highly unlikely that the Krogans and Salarians will team up due to the whole genophage thing.
the turians and krogan teaming up is more realistic
A salarian sacrificed himself to restore Tuchanka and save the Krogans from the Reapers. I'd say their alliance isn't so out-of-thought.
@@wintersnoob that was against the orders of senior members of the salarian government and the krogans know it
@@robertserafini560 So Krogans teaming up with Salarian dissidents and/or Lystheni could very well happen
During the 3rd game when discussing reversing the genophage im pretty sure the Salarian government threatens to withdraw their support against the reapers if Shepard cures the Krogans, so theres some severe bad blood still, i think the most likely alliance for the Krogans is the Humans out of all the main species, common bad history with the Turians, Humans werent involved in the genophage, and Shepherd was a Big part in reversing the genophage (if thats canon) and knows a lot of important Krogan political figures
Lets hope this time a hacker doesn't steal the original ending and hold it ransom making them change it last minute to a star child and cycles.
what was the orignal
@@Yingyanglord1 something to do with dark matter and how organics using biotics was accelerating the heat death of the universe. Remember in ME2 the Tali mission where they where investigating a sun that was dying too fast for some reason, something to do with accelerated entropy. The entire route was altered since someone hacked them found the direction they wanted and asked for ransom money. Result they just abandoned that and went where they did.
@@soul1d If true, that could have made for such a better ending, and split of choices at the end. You wind up proving the Reapers right, but they realize it too late. Or changes are made to harness it properly like the Reapers have (which could also lead to how the catalyst takes them down, but exploiting their use of it). And so many other threads more varied than what we got.
@@soul1d why the hell would someone think speeding up the death of the entire universe is a good idea?
@@ThatSpecificIndividual side effect of biotics that no one was aware of happening. My info is limited since it was not brought to fruition but there was gonna be some way to stop it or reverse it. Uncertain to say the least.
Personally a really focused-in detective story on the Citadel would be AMAZING. Love the format btw
ME2 established that there’s a whole bunch of unconnected species in the terminus system maybe have a terminus analogue to the council fight against the council races since they would be in a weakened state following the reaper war
Haven't the mass relays been destroyed? That would change everything. Decentralized power would erode the council races' control across the vast galaxy
If I remember correctly, in the revised ending they released just after the original launch the lore around the relays was changed to them being 'damaged', not destroyed. They'd need some elbowgrease and headlight fluid, but were capable of being repaired by the milky way civilizations.
@@exilestudios9546 Building a new netwrok that isn't a reaper bottleneck is probably a good idea. And with access to the Odyssey drive (from ME:A), thet're not even necessary.
The unexpected presence of Shepards....indecision at the end got a good chuckle out of me.
The cold war plot can still feel galactically significant. This new war is a war for Shepard's dream of a united galaxy victorious over the Reapers. Do they find a way to discard their grievances and return to peace? Do they let the dream die in ashes and return the galaxy to a bustling pack of competitors? Do machines and organics finally learn to understand one another? Do they return to fighting and prove the reapers right? Etc
about the Mass Effect games.. personally, I would like to see an expansion of the Andromeda route. heck... would be nice to see how the Andromeda game would have turned out, if it had gotten the same love and resources as the main series.
Agreed, besides the obvious flaws, I was actually really interested in the idea of meeting an entirely new species and how the know races interact with them. Also how the colonies would interact with the homeworlds of the milky way galaxy. lots of story telling opportunities.
Priority Palavan really makes me want to see a CNC or Endgame type RTS based on the unification wars, the First Contact war or the Krogan rebellions.
I like the idea of Mass Effect 4 being of lesser scale.
Make the story more...'personal' or local.
I feel that a prequel series could also be used to sidestep the ME3 endings, I think spacedock mentioned a space combat game fitting in very well in that setting. Maybe have the story set in the immediate aftermath of the first contact war with humanity just beginning to discover the wider galaxy. Maybe the conflict with the Batarians could be expanded upon, maybe the conflict in the Skyline Verge wasn't as black and white as the codex portrays. Or perhaps you can have a story set somewhere out in the Attican Traverse as human colonies struggle to survive and thrive in their volatile neighborhood. I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that Mass Effect can fit almost any story someone might want to tell, and I feel like allowing other kinds of creators to make those stories would do wonders for the Mass Effect franchise, it doesn't always have to be an action RPG.
I would like to see an almost post apocalyptic setting where every species is rebuilding, both literally and metaphorically, new image or "empire"as such for itself
Love the concept - both for 'short' videos and a cold war mass effect.
Especially the shorts. If there's one thing that's made me love this channel, it's the way you guys weave in your personal opinions into it without preaching - even when I personally disagree with your thoughts, it always makes me look at it from another viewpoint and just makes it *more*.
So keep up the good work!
Keep in mind there's actually 4 endings, the 3 colours and the "failure" one too.
I can't remember who wrote it but I saw this on the Mass Effect Reddit years ago. The author pitched the question "What if the reapers were some kind of test?" in a similar vein to the vaults from the Fallout franchise. Each galaxy had it's own set of "reapers" with it's own set of objectives. There would be some work around needed to explain how each galaxy gets the numbers it needs and what created them, regardless the example he used for Andromeda was "what if the Reapers were benevolent?" We from the Milky way spent thousands of years fleeing a war due to the reapers and their servants only to come face to face with more in Andromeda. How would the races of the Milky Way react and how would they push past their biases?
That story alone had way more depth and made for a more interesting read than any of Andromeda turned out to actually be. Again some retcon would need to occur to allow this but I don't think many people would mind all that much.
They should make a mass effect world/civilization building game, based after the reapers.
I just want a Mass Effect game where you can choose your character's species, with the differences in how others interact with you and what choices you can make, even if that means a single stand-alone game with a small scale story that's mostly insignificant for the wider universe.
A Cold War styled conflict would actually be a great spin, there’s a number of directions the story could go and plenty of interesting story potential. Would also give you plenty of excuse to visit different worlds as you seek to stop any potential conflict or work towards working with one side. You could even have party members from the different sides, creating even more dynamic interactions. Very good idea over all, I like it.
Mine idea for this was instead of the council divided but with the quarian, krogans, and rachni making there own alliance with could rival the council as the quarian have enough ship to outnumber the council and the krogan and rachni biology could take them on planetside with the system alliance either a defunct government (capital was kill off and udina dead) or spilt between the council despite having a seat and the quarian, krogan, and rachni faction(a thing that all these race have in common is being oppress by the council in some way)
1:50 ; In regards to the idea of one ending being made the "Prime Ending" there are two other likely possibilities:
1.) They do an _XCOM_ and have the Reapers 'win', forcing the survivors to play a game of "cat and mouse" to survive.
2.) They make up an entirely new ending or combine aspects of multiple endings [like the MEHEM mod(s)].
Wouldn't it be possible to just do control and have the reapers leave once they rebuilt the galaxy. That would probably be safest one that steps on the fewest toes
The way it seems, it looks like 90 percent of the playerbase want the next game to be a direct sequel to ME3, playing once more as shepherd and company, but unfortunately it seems that almost all game journalist sites want it to be set 600 years in the future and a sequel to Andromeda. Guess who bioware will pay more attention too.
@Live Fast Same
Mass Effect has three jumping off points with the three skittle-flavoured endings:
If you go with the Synthesis ending then you can explore some really interesting ideas on what it is to be a person, maybe some kind of synthesis vs non-synthesis people or something, but it would be very cerebral and I think hard to make a fun game out of.
If you go with the Control ending then you literally have a galactic force of machines which can do anything you ask them to. This could lead to lots of amazing constructs and settings, but makes conflict (for story purposes) harder. You could write something about how in the much farther future the Reapers have started to malfunction and break-down, and no one knows how to repair the technology, plunging the galaxy into a dark age (à la Foundation by Asimov). Here it is a race against time to explore and uncover the secrets of the Reapers tech so that the galaxy doesn’t fall apart. Or maybe set it during the dark ages and the player is tasked with reconnecting the galaxy. This makes it harder to have returning characters, except maybe Liara.
I think the Destruction ending has the most potential for interesting storytelling. In my idea, you start the next Mass Effect game in the reconstruction and rediscovery period, a few years after the end of ME3. Your overarching storyline could be political machinations on the Citadel regarding how the galaxy should be organised into the future (similar system as before, maybe a unitary state instead, dissolve the council entirely etc) and you as the protagonist have to choose who to support and who to help. Obviously the conflict stems from those you disagree with and who decide to not play by the rules, use violence etc.
This allows you to conduct small side missions on a variety of small planets, moons, and stations to bring relief and supplies, reconnection with the wider galaxy, but also conflict has planets which were under the control of one of the political factions (Turian, Krogan, Salarian, Asari, Systems Alliance, etc) do not want to rejoin, and instead be independent. You could also bring nuance by showing that the rulers of some of these planets want independence to maintain their powers but the people don’t, or vice versa. There could also be research missions into Reaper tech, investigating Prothean ruins more, that kinda thing
Basically doing properly what Mass Effect Andromeda completely failed to address with its ideas of exploration and colonisation but doing it in a galaxy that we as the player are far more attached to, with some returning characters we can relate with, argue with, fight for or against.
What do you guys think?
Also sorry for the wall of text.
Also Also these should be called Templin Takes.
I’d imagine the Turians and the Kroger would team up leaving the Salarians and Asari not so much on their own but leaving them alone
Love the idea of Templin shorts being introduced to the channel. This would give needed content in between major Works that require more time and focus.
What I'd consider the canon ending is the Destroy option. I know, RIP EDI and the geth. But Shepard's goal from the first game's end was ending the Reaper threat, and destroying them is the best way to do it. Also by removing the geth and EDI (and other AIs) from the equation makes it easier to write the story.
What do we know about the species of the galaxy?
- the krogans are the wildcard, because you had options with them, therefore their role would be reduced, maybe adding just background info. You could have cured them with Wrex or Wreav leading them, or sabotage the cure. If sabotaged, they are basically dying out slowly, not a factor, if cured, if Wrex leads them, they probably are more restrained, sticking to their own nearby systems, and rebuilding, if Wreav leads them they probably do the same while arming up, to prepare for an eventual war.
- Rachni - since you could destroy them, if they are alive they are probably vanished into uncharted space to live their own life.
- humans and turians - the obvious two most active and well regarded species during the reaper war. Both hit really hard, that weakened them significanlty, but they were the first to actively fight and make plans against the Reapers. Their word would have the most weight in the era after the war.
- salarians were trying to not get involved that much in the Reaper war, sabotaging the genophage cure, and the like. And that should show. If you sabotaged the cure, they helped out a bit more, but that wasn't much. Still should make them look a bit better. If you didn't, they are looked down by the other species more and won't get as even as much say. MAybe even some parties who tried to help out (like the STG) would have issues with their government, leading to a schizm and a civil war? could be interesting.
- the asari, well they can be blamed for a lot, they held back a lot of information that could've made a lot of difference during the war, all for their own superiority. I think this should lead to an overall general regret in the asari society, causing them to withdraw from galactic decision making. But still help in anything needed. Could be shown as several other species npcs treating asaris with contempt.
- quarians are another wildcard, since they could've been wiped out. Few players would chose that, but still. They were helpful after they took back Rannoch, so that must count. But as they just took back their home planet, and are without the geth helping them, they should be focused on building their home, not much else.
- batarians - they are pretty much wiped out. What little group are left of them probably settled down on one of their own world, and not doing much, just try to stay alive. The whole war changed their attitude toward other races for sure.
- volus, elcor, hanar, drell, vorcha - they didn't change much, still the supporting factions. At least they helped in the war from the get go, so that could elevate them a bit more.
- yahg and raloi - The yahg are still a bit far from spaceflight as far as I know. The raloi could join in, as the new species, since they were discovered not long before ME3, but as the war broke out, they destroyed all their satellites and broke all contact, so the Reapers would ignore them.A raloi squadmate could be an interesting one, and also one who'd you could explain how things work, easy implementation for exposition.
So this would be the base of the next game for me. The new Galactic council is basically led by turians and humans. Every other species have representations in the council (not just the 3, then 4 main), but these two have the most weight and the others defer to their decisions, especially the asari. The krogan and quarian don't really having much role f they are alive, they are rebuilding their homes. The new problem could arise from splinter groups that doesn't like this new galactic government. Or could be about wanting to pull the Terminus systems into this government, with many hurdles.
I'd set the game years after the ME3 ending, after most of the Relays are fixed, so most of the worlds are in contact again.
Honestly, what I liked in Andromeda was making the planets liveable, so that would be something they could go for. Helping out different species rebuild or resettle, but sometimes you can't help everyone, you have to manage where to send help and resources, etc. The still damaged relays could be interesting, reactivating them and making contact with the colonies there, seeing how they did while they were cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
One dynamic of the Mass Effect universe I really love is the optimism of sentient life, technologically advancing toward a more sophisticated society, working to find mutual goals... very utopian, but far more difficult to write than the standard dystopian future of monkey clans with tech sticks.
the format is nice.
the pitch itself...i think there are enough stories we all would like to know more about that were mentioned within the games so far. the krogan offense, the geth wars...maybe even the protheans..
I actually love the exploration idea in andromeda. Exploring the stars find new places to call home. Space exploration is amazing to me and i love the idea of experiencing it
They bungled it up by having no interesting civilisations though. You got the borg/reaper ripoff kett (its supposed to be a shocking revelation what exhaultion is? Snore) and those agoran whose bare bones culture is revealed to be artificial as well.
I like this idea, because it means having to deal with a lot of the ramifications of what was done or what was discovered in Mass Effect 3. I'd like to see a few things addressed, particularly 1) What becomes of the remnants of the Batarians now that they're bordering on extinction, and 2)What is the fallout from the discovery that the Asari had been hiding a Prothean beacon in the Temple of Athame for two thousand years, despite the fact that it violated a Citadel law they actually wrote and demanded others follow?
More Templin Institute Content is always better! Thanks for doing this!
The issue has been raised a few times, but I want to give my own spin on it: in my opinion the destroyed relays basically give you two options, either a post reaper scenario, focussed on a small set of systems (maybe you wouldn't even have to address the ending dilemma if it's some far of location with minimal reaper contact), or at least a few hundred years later, when a new way of intergalactic travel was developed, or is still in the process of developing.
I would like to see the aftermath of the Reaper Wars, but the problem is that you have to select a canon ending and throw away the other two. Still, there's always a multiverse approach.
Also, there is potential for smaller side story types focusing on other characters or expanding on previously established backstory.
Anyway, I like to see more impromptu shorts from time to time. If you want a title other than Shorts, how about Templin Media Break? Or Templin Quickies?
I love your ideas and new format as well
Smaller stories in a universe like this is something I crave. Too many franchises feel the need to go global (or in this case galactic) or nowhere. It's frustrating because eventually scale stops mattering anyway.
*A cold war pitch, sounds very interesting and engaging.*
A noir detective story on the Citadel sounds like excellent material for a book
I agree. But another part of me wants it to be a ridiculous buddy-cop thing. An Elcor rookie partnered up with an overzealous grizzly Volus veteran.
To me though the sense of urgency is really an integral part of the series since Mass Effect 2 and I can't imagine a Mass Effect, looking at you Andromeda, with a jovial tone regardless of the events that happen.
Always love more Mass Effect content. The idea of a Cold War esque scenario would be interesting. Especially with a shattered galaxy post Reaper war. Given what we have seen with older Liara being shown and finding the piece of N7 armor, I wonder if that striving for the legacy of Shepard could be part of the new game. Let’s you see familiar faces and locales, and what happened to the Normandy crew while being able to do something different. Especially in a Cold War context, maybe your striving for more galactic reunification between the two sides and Shepard’s legacy is part of that.
I'm really glad you made this video and brought up the points that you did. I have long been a proponent that your conflict does not have to be an existential crisis for the fate of the world to be a good story. It only has to have to strong sense of tension and emotional effect on the audience. Look no further than The Witcher 3 for instance, Geralt trying to find his daughter.
I wish more writers would understand that and be willing to tell other types of stories within their settings and not just about the fate of humanity.
I think an interesting idea would be the introduction of a Third Faction. There are two things to take into account.
First It's stated in lore that Most races have only mapped around 1-4% of the galaxy even with the relays meaning there may be areas which no one knows about.
Second, the Reaper invasion was for them disorganized. The usual plan was to take control of the citadel, shut down the relays and isolate each system. Here they had to attack from an awkward position giving the races time to recover regroup and keep their supply lines and communication. They still paved through but it was more difficult than it had to be.
So what if there was another race the Reapers were fighting one that lacked ties to any of the other factions, and because resources were so stretched they didn't make as big of a priority. One that in the midst of every council race being winded and recovering became an upcoming power in the galaxy.
I really liked the sound of your idea about a Cold War sort of story taking place in the aftermath of the Reaper War, I think that could be really interesting and allow for some really fun and interesting questlines exploring new worlds, new races, and new factions. The idea I've been thinking of for the future of Mass Effect is that it would be set a few centuries after the Reaper War, the Citadel Council has been reformed and the mass relays rebuilt to some extent, though some still remain inactive leaving entire star clusters isolated from the rest of the galaxy, especially in the Terminus Systems. While the Citadel races have been rebuilding, the races of the Terminus has united under a mysterious faction that has formed its own government, repaired mass relays and begun to militarize. So the threat of the new stories would be from this 'Terminus Empire' that begins its expansion outwards, bringing it into direct conflict with the Citadel Council over a series of desirable star clusters, perhaps with new fledgling races? Anyway, that's my idea haha.
As someone who genuinely liked Andromeda (post patches), I don't want them to completely abandon that storyline. I would like to see something that bridges the two galaxies. Maybe some breakthrough in FTL travel makes the centuries long trip between galaxies a relatively easy thing. Maybe there is now growing tensions between the traditional governments back in the Milky Way wanting to bring the Andromeda colonies back into the fold and the colonies not wanting any of it. The story would be centuries after the Reaper Wars, so the political landscape of the Milky Way galaxy would be completely different. Maybe that's where the cold war idea comes in and which ever super power claims the Andromeda colonies' support can tip the balance of power in their favor.
It's also worth mentioning that in the teaser trailer they released, it was mentioned by the devs that it was no mistake that both galaxies could clearly be seen in the opening shot. So they obviously don't want to just drop the Andromeda arc.
Man I would LOVE to be a detective on the citadel! Exploring that grand city in space would be EPIC!
I like the new format, and would welcome more videos along these lines.
As far as your pitch goes, I like the idea of digging into the difficulties of a postwar galaxy in the ME series, and Humans are likely to play an important role, especially given the Citadel now resides in Earth orbit. I wonder about the postwar blocs you defined though. I would probably put Krogan and Turians together, since they are both more militaristic, bore the brunt of frontline battle against the reapers, and became significantly closer diplomatically due to the Turian diplomatic support for a genophage cure (which the Salarians opposed) and the Krogan sending reinforcements to Palavan during the reaper war. This could lead to Turian support for Krogan expansionism destabilizing the galaxy and alienating the Salarians and Asari, who typically use more covert methods rather than standing military forces, but between them control the bulk of the galactic economy. We could see Asari commandos and STG teams attempting to stir up discontent among the Turian protectorates and trying to sow disunity among the expanding Krogan clans. Humans, Quarians, and Hanar would be the most important non-aligned powers, and the whole conflict could take place in the backdrop of galactic reconstruction after the devastation of the reaper war, and a likely rise in extremism connected to the horrible trauma suffered by so many of the Galaxy's inhabitants.
I want a buddy cop comedy About Garrus and Wrex set after the destroyed timeline.
I’ve been asking this for years
I have to admit, this is the best scenario for Mass Effect going forward but I think it would be interesting to see a game set *before* the events of MS. I wouldn't mind seeing a story about the first human C-Sec officer on the Citadel, dealing with space crimes, conspiracies and the political struggles after the First Contact War with humanities first ginger steps into the galaxy being watched with scrutiny by the Counsel races.
Honestly, I just love the idea of being able to explore the whole of Citadel Station as you could build an entire game there.
4:25 in and I already did a double-take. Why would the Krogan make nice with the Salarians?
Why templin institute still don't have 1million sub?hope soon we celebrate 1 million I was with templin from day one it's amazing
This sounds awesome. I really like the idea of a cold war.
I actually have a dnd group in the mass effect universe, and the party is a group on Omega just trying to make their way in the galaxy. Joining mercs, getting into fights and being involved with batarian slavers, the campaign has been really interesting, yet really small scale. No mention of reapers.
For me, I always preferred the control ending, since the star nations of the galaxy would be stranded without mass relays for a shorter amount of time. So in my head I imagined the Reapers now calling themselves Shep*herds* (that sounds a little more cartoonish now that I type it but whatever). But like, with Shepard’s personality being annihilated but their mind staying intact, taking the role of a guiding, shepherding hand galaxy wide would be the new overmind’s prerogative, more than likely helping to rebuild the mass relay network after its destruction
The Terminus systems are basically made for smaller scale conflicts that feels bigger, also you can have side missons exploring the cold war in former citadel space
I have a post-reaper war headcanon that I hope to use in a TTRPG someday. It's a lot similar to yours but the 2 main factions are different. obviously, after the war, the homeworlds of the council will take priority in regards to reconstruction. which would likely create resentment from people who live in smaller colonies. so think the OPA from the expanse Vs the Citidel counsel.
I cant remember if they ever explained why if you had enough War assets at the end of the credits you got a scene with rubble and you hear a breath happen and its moves a little!! They have to address that before I dive back in the Main story!!
I would point to the fact ME2 is by far the most beloved entry in the series as proof that those "smaller scale stories," when well told and tied to the develop of well-fleshed out characters, is exactly what most players want. Especially if you can tie them into a Dirty Dozen style set-piece in the end. Something that may or may not actually BE large stakes. But it seems such because everything you do along the way matters and pays off at the end.
A cold war with the Terminus systems turns hot as those races that survived there take advantage of the weakened Citadel space.
I quite like the format and would love this become a main stay on the channel
i think that the best way to move foward is with the destruction ending. Having the Mass Effect relays destroys is what made traversing the galaxy a matter of hours. If they are destroyed, the movement between regions of space now must take days or weeks. Without the ability for a ship to travel from the Citadel to Omega in about a day severly impacts the reach of nations to project power, meaning the regional capitals will have much more presence. This would in turn make the Milky Way feel much more larger.
We could see more splintering between factions of the same species, worlds in the Traverse or the Terminus systems becoming major players, much more border fricction (like in Stellaris, where distance is the main factor alliances and war), and cultures developing in more unique ways depending on the people living there. The developing of new ME relays could be a sort of weapons race, like the atomic race during the cold war.
Personally, I would love to have a more settled galaxy, about 100 years after the battle on Earth. That way we have a more fresh and distinctive scenario but still close enough that the events of the Reaper war are still felt, since many of the veterans even between humans and turians might still be alive.
The Yahg becoming spacefaring would make for a good pivot point for galactic politics turning on its head, with how the various species react to it, and whatever the Yahg do (probably conquering everything in sight, from how they were described before).
I would like to see what the different alliances do or build past the one relay that was the home of the reapers. The technology or even resources there could add a lot of different things to the mass effect universe in many ways - good and bad. Could see how the different worlds use things and see if anything spirals out of control.
I honestly think you could expand on the Javik sleeping soldier concept and make a decent one off story about it. In aftermath of destruction ending some Prothean fail safe triggers and a vast prothean conquest sleeper fleet shows up to get to the business of rebuilding their empire. It avoids the existential annihilation trope and has some built in complexities to mine like the Asari religion.
I think an interesting idea to blend into your story or even be the main story of your setting would be weaponizing Crucible technology (with the parallels of the Crucible being the atomic bomb of the Mass Effect universe).
Got a better idea. How about the first contact war? The first human and alien contact that resulted in a small scale skirmish. Almost an all out war. Could be a good dlc as well
Love this idea, looking forward to the new content!
As much as i love the investigations (which is a lot) i always like incoming a bit more, these templin shorts are a pretty awesome bit of extra content
It could also go like managing after reapers things like some planets still having some reapers stuff like zombies at least and trying to find reapers technology to help in rebuilding the galaxy
I think the biggest question is adding races to play, just like Dragon Age. It would be interesting to see Bioware throw 2-3 Mass Effect games, all with a different central character but a some sort of relation between them all to give you that feeling of a wider galaxy.
I like the idea of the cold war thing happening. Although I’m not really sure about which sides would work with one another and such.
I also have a couple of pitch ideas for myself. One idea would be probably even though it’s probably not a good idea a form of prequel. Maybe something focusing on the life and career of David Anderson leading up to the first mass effect game. Maybe it could start with him being a low ranking officer set during the first contact war. And then it ends with him acting as a training officer for the N7 program. You could even Have the story end with something that would tie the original series into this one. Like for instance you could have Anderson come running into a locker room on a ship that is heading for a training area or some thing calling for the cadets or recruits or whatever they’re called to Hurry up and head out to the Muster point. The camera could then show either the back of or the feet of a unidentified recruit. Anderson then calls for the recruit to go with him. The recruit stands up grab something out of their locker and then close his locker before walking off camera showing us that the locker belongs to Shepherd.
Another idea could be similar to mass effect Andromeda but instead of leaving the Milky Way galaxy it could simply be set hundreds of years into the future.
As was stated in the video itself given the fact that there are three potential endings for the original series it would definitely make any sequel set in the Milky Way difficult. They would need to decide which one of the three endings would be considered the canonical ending. Personally I would prefer either the synthesis or control endings to be the canonical ones. I don’t like the destruction ending. Mostly because depending on your level of readiness when you actually undertake the overall Battle of earth you will either just simply destroy all synthetic life in the galaxy or you will basically destroy not only the synthetic life but a large amount of life on earth itself.
But again I really like the idea of the cold war scenario. And the possibility of maybe the systems alliance being the wild card.
It would be awesome to have a Mass Effect game set during the first contact war. I think that could be a really interesting way to go and it would take care of the which ME3 ending problem
I know doing prequel stuff can be risky and your talking about Mass Effect going forward but what about a game set during the First Contact War? Maybe playing as a colonist turned resistance fighter who joins up with Anderson? That would be great!
How strong are the Tennos of Warframe when compared to other Sci Fi super soldiers like the Spartan IIs, Space Marines, Adeptus Custodes, Forerunner Promethean Warrior Servants, and the Guardians of Destiny?
It’s easy to miss but in ME1, a Codex entry mentioned human colonies that departed 🌏 before mass effect drives were developed and these colonies eventually made contact with the citadel. I started drafting a script for Mass Effect 4 in which the player character is from one of these backwater colonies that missed Commander Shepherd, Turians, the Reaper War-all of it. However, decades after the Reaper war, the colony gets caught up in the violent postwar era as the consequences of ME3 unfold such as a Krogan civil war between the heir of Wrex and a more violent irredentist, the bartarians clawing back from extinction seeking to rejoin the galaxy they once shunned, Rannoch rebuilding and so on. I kinda envisioned a sort of Futurama fish-out-of-water dynamic for the player. You’d work on a starship owned by a crazy salarian professor, pal around with a Geth, get to romance a hot batarian, find some new alien races, visit the rachni queen on their planet, engage in or fight off space piracy, all with more in depth role playing mechanics. I’d still like Mark Meyer back no matter what.
I like the idea of a fractured Citadel Council, looking internally for the next ME series. Maybe we could start off by seeing the Council still whole and missions you go on helps in the formation of your coalition with your choice of allied races. And by the halfway point of the game, the Citadel Council is dissolved and the galactic map becomes a 3 or 4 way power struggle with your coalition, a separatist movement, a major criminal faction that took advantage of the political strife, and maybe a few neutralists trying to stay out of the way.
All great ideas, and a great video, I would definitely enjoy that game. I can understand the Citadel Government system (and wider galactic unity) breaking apart after the revelation it was all a trick by the Reapers. Id be nervous/unsure how to proceed too. Maybe the Citadel was damaged/destroyed and there are some suggestions of repairing it. I like the idea of engaging with these new alliances and ideologies throughout the game, meeting new races each side are trying to woo, until eventually needing to find a lasting solution to the escalating proxy wars and skirmishes. Alternate endings: 1) Back the Asari/Turians, 2) Back the Krogan/Salarians, 3) Reconcile their differences and rebuild the Citadel Council government, and 4) Semi-hidden alt ending of Humanity playing both sides and taking over everything for themselves. Make it so.
I could also see it do like the novels for post Dominion war Star Trek did. In that one the three major powers in the area (Romulans, Klingons, and Federation) ended the war closer together and with massive increases in their military forces. This made many smaller powers more fearful of domination; especially from the now hegemonic Federation. So they form a Alliance of their own. This leads to new tension as they try everything they can to strengthen their position while damaging the powers while they are still somewhat exhausted from the war. Its a cold war but one more like if all the smaller nations in Africa and South America united to take on US and USSR together.
I loved Mass Effect. I don't really know what should become Mass Effect after the story of Shepard, however, I'd really like the idea of making a game about the First Contact War or the Skyllian Blitz, or even on the past of humanity before the Alliance, between our era and the discoveries on Mars. This universe has so much lore to speak about that I don't even know where they must continue the franchise. xD
An idea for naming the "shorts" is. Exploration of the Templin's Files.
Here you can say that the data was already gathered by the Templin Institute and your exploring the possible timelines after the fact?
I like these shorts as I am always interested in your opinions on the latest developments. As far as you idea on the future of Mass Effect, I would love to see a Cold War style follow up to the series. I would personally see it more likely that the Salarian and Asari would align against the Turians and Krogan since the Salarians were reluctant to cure the Genophage and the Asari stayed out of things as long as possible due their secrecy. But that is just my personal opinion. Regardless, I would love to see how the Hanar, Elcor, Batarians, and the other races would respond to this political climate. And we all know Aria would be smack in the middle of everything.
In my opinion, not only because it's my favored ending but also because it leaves a possible continuation for how the galaxy adapts to the new age, the Shepherd Lives ending or simply the Destroy Ending sounds like the most likely to be cannon. One of those two, even if it takes place decades later. I also like the cold war idea! Smart with these "Templin Shorts"! Also, who is that at the end- oh...
Like your suggestions. I personally think they should just the "control" ending for canon lore, have the reapers appear in the game, but doing the galactic equivalent of "elephant labour" and dialogue about what they were and what there doing now. That way new player's would interested and veteran players get a ninth doctor dalek vibe. (Stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit, I'm getting old. etc) Then have a DLC were we meet AI Shepherd.
Templin Institute should do a series of videos on the Legend of Zelda series and lore. If ever there was a confusing timeline and world needing exploration and explanation, that’s it.
The best way would be to focus on the most appreciated Star Wars content that takes place after "the big thing" aka the Emperor's death and observe what made it most appreciated. Not all of it (please not the Emperor's clones), but the things fans fell in love with, like politics and struggle for power.