Mass Effect 4: 10 Ways It Can Revolutionise The Franchise
3. In-Depth Ship Management
In making you feel like the captain of a starship, the Mass Effect series did a lot of things right. But there is one area that it missed out on that, had it been a part of the games, would have made them even better. The games never actually allowed you to manage and maintain the ship. Mass Effect 2 allowed you to research and upgrade the Normandy, but that was the closest the series has gotten to ship management, and it paid off when all those additions came into play during the suicide mission. The next game needs to not only bring back the micro-management from Mass Effect 2, but expand it and add more depth. Now it shouldnt be too complex or elaborate; Mass Effect shouldnt be like Eve Online. But the goal should be to really make the player feel like a captain of a starship exploring the galaxy, and to do that requires a more elaborate resource and crew management system. You shouldnt be able to just fly across the galaxy without having to make sure you have enough fuel for the ship or food for the crew. This doesnt mean the game should be filled with monotonous mining or resource gathering ala Mass Effect 2. All of it should be fun and interesting. In fact, it would be great if randomly generated situations and encounters were implemented to keep the player on their toes. Things should go wrong every once and a while, and when that happens you should have to stop what youre doing and deal with it. All this would make the universe feel more believable while enriching the role-playing experience and packing the game with content. The more you think about it, the more you realize that an in-depth management system would be a fantastic addition to the Mass Effect series.
