223: CONFIRMED info on next game, TV show

0:00 [SPEAKER_02]: I'm Commander Shepherd, and this is my favorite lorecast on the Citadel. [SPEAKER_05]: Welcome to the Mass Effect lorecast. [SPEAKER_05]: I'm in seven the legend and I'm Genesis join us as we explore along tides of light and through sholes of dust to see where this lore began and consider where it may go.

0:51 [SPEAKER_05]: Specters welcome back to another exciting week news filled week of the Mass Effect Lorcast. [SPEAKER_05]: We're going to be talking about news and how it relates to the lore and joining me as always is Genesis Genesis. [SPEAKER_05]: I think I saw your co-host there. [SPEAKER_05]: It's a little cat tail going by as Maya trying to get on your PC again.

1:11 [SPEAKER_06]: No, she's not allowed on top of the tower anymore. [SPEAKER_06]: I built a barrier, so good. [SPEAKER_06]: I have my biotics in place, but now she demands to be on the lap during the show, which I can deal with. [SPEAKER_05]: Naturally, okay. [SPEAKER_05]: And then joining us today to help break down some of this news that we got from the past in seven days, just four days ago is Bond Diesel.

1:35 [SPEAKER_05]: Bond, thank you for joining the show. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, thank you for having me. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm always willing to talk and especially about this kind of stuff. [SPEAKER_08]: It's a good outlet for me. [SPEAKER_05]: Bon, you've been running the Mass Effect hype cast for how long now?

1:49 [SPEAKER_08]: I think since last year, I want to say, I believe it was, I know it was before in seven day last year. [SPEAKER_08]: So I think it's been about a year. [SPEAKER_05]: And before then, you were covering in seven day news since what 2021, 2020? [SPEAKER_08]: I think 2021, because I'm a new fan, as of the legendary edition.

2:09 [SPEAKER_08]: I'm kind of, even though I'm old, I actually worked. [SPEAKER_08]: It was at least Mass Effect 2's Midnight release a game stop when I was in college. [SPEAKER_08]: And there's a chance I work all three games. [SPEAKER_08]: I just don't remember if I have to be on this. [SPEAKER_08]: So yeah, it's pretty wild.

2:25 [SPEAKER_08]: For years, I had friends telling me, like, you need to play it, you'll love it. [SPEAKER_08]: I was like, oh, no, I like Call of Duty. [SPEAKER_08]: And then I grew up. [SPEAKER_08]: So yeah, since 2021 is when I kind of go [SPEAKER_05]: It's been a lot of fun and you keep your ear to the ground on a lot of industry news as well and you've been doing that for other games as well.

2:46 [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, so I started making content for Ubisoft's game called The Division back in. [SPEAKER_08]: Well, that came out in 16 and then I started making content for it in 17, I believe. [SPEAKER_08]: And I. [SPEAKER_08]: My main podcast, which is called the Bonfire, used to be called the Echo Cast, and was a podcast I started back then.

3:08 [SPEAKER_08]: And it's at episode 360 something. [SPEAKER_08]: No, it was counting. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, right. [SPEAKER_08]: So, yeah, so I started off and the big thing with that was the Division II. [SPEAKER_08]: went to development as I did that and I did all the sleuthine and paying attention to the hiring and doing all of that to kind of try to get an idea where they were at.

3:30 [SPEAKER_08]: I may or may not have also had some people on the dev team who pulled me way more than they probably should have about it. [SPEAKER_08]: And so that experience has kind of led me to paying attention to the next Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_08]: Unfortunately, I don't quite have the same sources I did back then with that game, but it's still fun.

3:47 [SPEAKER_05]: That's all right. [SPEAKER_05]: We've got time. [SPEAKER_05]: And speaking of time, I want to paint the picture a little bit for all of our listeners who maybe they're just like more of a casual Mass Effect fan. [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe you play the games a lot, but you just don't interact on social media that much about Mass Effect.

4:04 [SPEAKER_05]: So I want to paint the picture a little bit about [SPEAKER_05]: What it was like kind of leading up to in seven day and what each of us had heard or seen from the community, the larger online community fans, even friends of yours, what the chatter was like. [SPEAKER_05]: I can go ahead and start, you know, for me, I think there's a great disparity among fans in the Mass Effect world, right?

4:28 [SPEAKER_05]: On one end of the spectrum, you had fans who are like, [SPEAKER_05]: Ura Ra, let's go in seven day. [SPEAKER_05]: Can't wait to get the details. [SPEAKER_05]: I am so effing psyched for this next game, right? [SPEAKER_05]: And then on the other end of the spectrum, you had bitter old fucks like me.

4:43 [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: And you had, you had people like, yeah, I'm expecting disappointment. [SPEAKER_05]: So then that way I'm never disappointed. [SPEAKER_05]: So, and by disappointment, it's just expecting to see absolutely nothing. [SPEAKER_05]: And in somewhere in the middle I think most people were hovering around cautious optimism where it's exciting, you know, I'd love to see something more about the game, I'm not necessarily expecting it.

5:16 [SPEAKER_05]: Anyone at least who had been keeping up the past few years. [SPEAKER_05]: Genesis, what do you think? [SPEAKER_05]: What did you heard from people you knew and other people in the community? [SPEAKER_06]: I very much the same, there was definitely the spectrum. [SPEAKER_06]: I think I was more leaning on the whatever information you give me.

5:34 [SPEAKER_06]: I'm going to be happy. [SPEAKER_06]: So I was I was the cheerful side of your of your respect. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm on that one. [SPEAKER_06]: I love that each time we get a little nugget of information, so many theories and ideas and the conversations sparks back up around it. [SPEAKER_06]: And one of my favorite things about N7 Day is the artwork that comes out every year.

6:02 [SPEAKER_06]: People are so creative and I absolutely love seeing that. [SPEAKER_06]: It just makes the fandom even greater. [SPEAKER_05]: And we've been, I mean, on the lower cast at least, we've been analyzing that our work since like the Lyra trailer in 2020. [SPEAKER_05]: And we'll be talking about that a little bit later, but, Bon, I wanted to hear, you know, what you had heard leading up to in seven day, what was the sentiment like?

6:29 [SPEAKER_08]: So for me, I was kind of on my campaign of making all the pre in seven day videos of doing what we know so far. [SPEAKER_08]: And well, I think it's gonna happen and all this stuff. [SPEAKER_08]: And yeah, the comments to those videos, we're pretty telling, and it's the same thing that YouTube said, there's people all over the spectrum on it, I think, you know, for someone like me who's newer to paint attention to this stuff, [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not a grizzle veteran who's been doing this for 15 years with this franchise, you know, I'm new to it, you know, and I feel like a lot of the people who watch my videos and stuff like that are kind of similar because I think I'm too optimistic for the people who have been through it, you know, and but even then like it's definitely you can tell people, there's just I think there's a lot of anxiety in the community about.

7:21 [SPEAKER_08]: The game and the studio in general, you have the acquisition stuff going on with EA and that, you know, it's going to be what's going to be. [SPEAKER_08]: And then you have, you know, the layoffs that have been, you know, every time a blog pops up on bioers website, I think everyone is like, okay, did Gary McKay write it, or did my gamble write it?

7:42 [SPEAKER_08]: Because of Gary McKay wrote it, it's probably bad news. [SPEAKER_08]: If my gamble wrote it, it's probably fun stuff. [SPEAKER_08]: And I think that's just kind of where everyone's at. [SPEAKER_08]: And so I think like you guys said, there was either people [SPEAKER_08]: You know, and this is where I fall in, give me anything.

7:55 [SPEAKER_08]: Any news is good news, in my opinion, I'll take whatever you give me, and I'll make 20 videos about it. [SPEAKER_08]: Let's do it. [SPEAKER_08]: But I don't blame the people who are pessimistic. [SPEAKER_08]: I can't. [SPEAKER_08]: You just can't. [SPEAKER_08]: I can't do that. [SPEAKER_08]: That's not in my nature necessarily, but I 100% understand that.

8:13 [SPEAKER_08]: I understood. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, no, no, Bon, I actually went on your show, the hype cast to talk about in seven day and what we'd gotten if it wasn't last year, it was two years ago, I think, and we actually did it twice. [SPEAKER_05]: So I think we also spoke one year ago. [SPEAKER_05]: And I remember one of those times, I think it was two years ago.

8:32 [SPEAKER_05]: I was very, [SPEAKER_05]: a very upset because I felt as if the studio was was misleading people into thinking the game was further along in development than it really was. [SPEAKER_05]: That was the year that they put out the duster video with the in seven agent coat on the short 33. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, sure walking clip of them walking down a hallway pans up.

9:01 [SPEAKER_05]: You see the daft punk helmet cut. [SPEAKER_05]: That that one I was very upset about I was not nearly as upset when we got to in seven day this year and part of that was because I'd tempered my expectations But the other part was the blog post and that's where I want to go now so [SPEAKER_05]: POV, it's in seven day, it's like 8 a.m.

9:26 [SPEAKER_05]: I want to say 8 a.m. on the west coast, 11 a.m. on on, it was 11. [SPEAKER_05]: It was the most time and I was like a totally sane individual, refreshing the by where blog come like 8. [SPEAKER_05]: I knew it was probably going to land around like 8.9 a.m. [SPEAKER_05]: So I was like, yeah, let's do that.

9:47 [SPEAKER_05]: And then I refreshed it and I'm boom blog post for a sheer [SPEAKER_05]: That anxiety that you described took over, and I was like, oh, no, what if this is the unlikely but dreaded announcement that they are closing the studio, right? [SPEAKER_05]: Because because that news with EA getting bought out is still fresh in everyone's memory.

10:09 [SPEAKER_05]: So yeah, that thought ran through my mind. [SPEAKER_05]: I quickly dispelled that thought. [SPEAKER_05]: because we have the and so we have the blog post here in front of us if you missed it we'll read it to you and we'll stop to give you kind of our our take on on each part. [SPEAKER_05]: So it starts with happy in seven day everyone you guessed it I come to you with another blog but each year that I write these they are important moments of reflection for me.

10:33 [SPEAKER_05]: I get to pause and think about how truly lucky we are to have mass effect and I'll thankful we are for the community and support [SPEAKER_05]: So this opening to me says like, thank you for being patient. [SPEAKER_05]: Sure. [SPEAKER_05]: That's, it's, it's a long-winded way of saying like, okay, let's all breathe.

10:57 [SPEAKER_05]: We're still working on it, but thank you for your patience. [SPEAKER_05]: We know that we have teased this a while ago. [SPEAKER_08]: because, and not to button too much, but think about what this is like for them. [SPEAKER_08]: Like, that's something I always try to consider, is that like, if we think it's anxiety and do seem to, you know, all know what's gonna happen to them, what's gonna happen to the game, is it ever gonna come out, what's, you know, are they gonna, this, that or the other?

11:22 [SPEAKER_08]: Like, they're the, this is their lives. [SPEAKER_08]: I mean, right, this is their job. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I agree, dude, I feel like even just that first paragraph was him just being like, K-Fokes, we're all in this together. [SPEAKER_05]: Right, which I think, Genesis, we've talked about at least in other games context before it just like to do this to display a level of empathy for your fandom is actually far more impressive than a lot of people give it credit for because I think if I were in their position, I being the bitter person that I am would probably say something along lines of these entitled [SPEAKER_05]: You know what I mean, we're working our buds off and they don't even you know have anything yet, and they're mad about it So yeah, I think it would be all too easy to fall into that that bitter trap right and I A lot of people would think this is flowery prose in this blog post at the very beginning, but he didn't have to write that right

12:22 [SPEAKER_07]: Hmm. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, and I mean, because we have seen games that come out horribly and then the studio takes that feedback and makes the game great via cyberpunk, you know, everybody knows how catastrophic that one was, but how absolutely amazing that game is now because they took the time, they truly listen to the people who are like, no, go back and spend more time on this, [SPEAKER_06]: you.

12:53 [SPEAKER_06]: And I think that that could also be. [SPEAKER_06]: So this feels to me like, hey, we're going to make the game that we're going to be proud of. [SPEAKER_06]: So just wait with us. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, exactly. [SPEAKER_05]: Like, bear with us, we are hard at work. [SPEAKER_05]: And then it goes on to say, like you, we've heard the rumors lately.

13:16 [SPEAKER_05]: I love [SPEAKER_05]: translation, we've heard the rumors lately, translation, we're not dead. [SPEAKER_05]: We are still working on this game, and it is still coming. [SPEAKER_05]: Because Gamble goes on to say, you've made it clearly, or you've made it clear that you deeply care about what's next.

13:37 [SPEAKER_05]: So let's start by setting their record straight. [SPEAKER_05]: The next mass effect game is in development, and EA and BioWareverman committed to telling more stories in this universe. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: confidence, little bit of calm, we can all exhale. [SPEAKER_05]: And when I say all, I mean, all of us, because even if you didn't enunciate it like I did hear from several people before this in seven day, the doom and gloom of biowear beginning shuddered, or at least us learning about it on in seven day, that's not a reality.

14:12 [SPEAKER_05]: That's not what we got. [SPEAKER_06]: I also like how it says more stories with an S in this universe. [SPEAKER_06]: I picked up on that. [SPEAKER_05]: That's a great catch. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, it's not just talking about, yeah, we're working on the next Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_05]: It's, you know, and then.

14:33 [SPEAKER_08]: And I think they've said that, but I think that's been said before in the blog. [SPEAKER_08]: I would have to know your name. [SPEAKER_08]: I was just really, no, the Gary McKay won from January where that blog was so funny. [SPEAKER_08]: Not funny. [SPEAKER_08]: It was awful because it involved people losing their jobs.

14:46 [SPEAKER_08]: But like it was, that was the blog where the main point of the blog was like, hey, we're working on Mass Effect and that's what we're focusing on. [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, by the way, the people that we temporarily moved to other studios, they're staying there and the writing staff is all gone.

15:02 [SPEAKER_08]: But you know, but in that blog, I'm pretty sure he said that he said that as well of like, like, in playing. [SPEAKER_08]: multiple stories. [SPEAKER_05]: In seven days from two years ago, the blog post, if I remember right, Mike Gamble actually said that you will be enjoying Mass Effect for years to come, or I'm paraphrasing here, but basically the way that he'd phrased it was that they are potentially working on the storyline for multiple next Mass Effect games.

15:34 [SPEAKER_05]: What should be amazing? [SPEAKER_08]: And that's what I've been thinking about the whole time is I really doubt you make another massive game with the intent of making one more. [SPEAKER_08]: Like it just, I don't see, you know, from a lot of perspectives of like how much time EA is going to give them, how much of a budget they're going to be allowed to have, like I don't think the game would even be allowed to be scaled to the point where it's going to be some hundred-hour epic that tells, you know, some insane story, more than likely I'm assuming this is going to be a smaller scaled game and then they'll see what happens.

16:06 [SPEAKER_05]: I see already the sarcastic commentary here in our live chat and Twitch, people saying yes, stories, meaning maybe one game plus the TV show or you can find one of those stories on a can of Medrina's in seven fruit punch charts or fresher. [SPEAKER_05]: So yeah, maybe stories is is probably not going to be the most descriptive form of what we get next.

16:33 [SPEAKER_05]: Um, now we get a little bit of candor from my gamble in this next part where he says, the truth is the last few years have been an incredibly busy time at Bioware. [SPEAKER_05]: But currently, the team is heads down and focused exclusively on mass effect. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, what can we get from those two senses that prior their attention was divided?

16:55 [SPEAKER_05]: And they were not exclusively focused on mass effect. [SPEAKER_05]: That should not come as a surprise to anybody. [SPEAKER_05]: Given that we knew they were working on veil guard and trying to get it out the door, you know. [SPEAKER_05]: out from development hell into the world of gamers, you know what I mean?

17:12 [SPEAKER_05]: And now that that's out, they can focus on Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, this didn't come as the shock to me about them working exclusively on Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_06]: Now, because they've stated that in the previous blogs, you know, we've heard the [SPEAKER_06]: And now it's our time now it's massive that time.

17:37 [SPEAKER_06]: So this they're following through with what they've said in the past years where this, you know, I hate to use their phrasing of this mobile and agile slim team is working on one game at a time. [SPEAKER_06]: And now that they have everything else cleared off the plate. [SPEAKER_05]: Now it's massive extra every time you say agile.

17:56 [SPEAKER_05]: An angel loses its wings. [SPEAKER_08]: That should be familiar from your cyberpunk fandom of the Corpo speak of. [SPEAKER_08]: We are being more efficient and agile and [SPEAKER_08]: One, one thing that caught my eye a while back was that Jason Schreier article about the veil guard that talked about how, and he, I don't know if he straight up said that, I mean, he kind of did, he's pretty blunt, especially with BioWare, but the way I read it, and this is coming from a bias of a more of a massive fan than Dragon Age fan.

18:30 [SPEAKER_08]: Is it kind of read to me like the BioWare Mass Effect Team came in and kind of got that game out the door where it probably wasn't going to or at least it wasn't heading in that direction. [SPEAKER_08]: And like the implication I believe was along the lines of like the final act was basically the Mass Effect Team doing Mass Effect to again and doing the suicide mission and.

18:54 [SPEAKER_08]: That was also my favorite part of that game, so there's like the tiniest part to me that you know that article was about you know the the tough development of veil guard But to me and this is probably my bias coming out is you know, and we're talking about you know the situation is it kind of was like Oh, yeah, the team who's making the game I'm excited for finished [SPEAKER_08]: And in the way it happens sucked and when you see the leadership team of the Vanguard is all gone, now, many of them by their own choice and some not.

19:26 [SPEAKER_08]: I feel like that was probably, I suspect it's not their choice to be making one game at a time right now. [SPEAKER_08]: I suspect they got moved over the drag-nage and now the directive is, okay, we can't do that again. [SPEAKER_08]: You're on one game and now it's massive effect. [SPEAKER_05]: Right.

19:43 [SPEAKER_05]: And that being said, the fact that there has been so many people laid off or left by aware, I wonder how that's going to impact their transition as they transition, Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_05]: from frostbite, like YouTube's here in Chatsets, from frostbite to Unreal Engine 5. [SPEAKER_05]: I mean, shifting engines is not easy on any developer, I think, unless you're already skilled, but Unreal Engine 5 is still relatively new.

20:19 [SPEAKER_05]: So if you had a lot of veterans in the room who were skilled with frostbite, used to working with frostbite, maybe it'll be a little bit of a learning curve or has been a learning curve to transition Unreal 5. [SPEAKER_05]: I get it. [SPEAKER_05]: Their attention was split with veil guard.

20:40 [SPEAKER_05]: I think maybe there will be a little bit of delay in as much as, you know, Mass Effect 2 and 3 use the same engine, right? [SPEAKER_05]: So there wasn't a lot more to learn. [SPEAKER_05]: The focus was on new assets, new cinematics, new story, new mechanics. [SPEAKER_05]: Not in, okay, let's go back and learn literally how to work in this engine.

21:13 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, well, and with the trilogy, the one thing that keep in mind and I've noticed as a newer fan is, you know, it's insane to think, especially in the modern day gaming sphere, that they put out three games, a whole trilogy, and a big giant RPG in one generation of console. [SPEAKER_08]: They did, and within a few years, basically, you know, the span that they took to make all three games.

21:39 [SPEAKER_08]: Now it's one game that you get out of that time frame. [SPEAKER_08]: And you can see how they did it is that the first game is kind of a low detail, huge scale. [SPEAKER_08]: Mass Effect 2, a little bit smaller scale, a little bit more detail. [SPEAKER_08]: Mass Effect 3, incredible detail, any bit of scale, you know.

21:57 [SPEAKER_08]: And I just, I, I, yeah, I, I, I, I always, I've always won that interesting to notice. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, so they gamble goes on in this and says now that they are exclusively focused on mass effect, quote, we have a lot of universe to cover lots of features to build and lots of romance is to figure out, okay?

22:21 [SPEAKER_05]: I think that's [SPEAKER_05]: you know, confirmation that we get some romances in the next mass effect. [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know if that was ever up, you know, for debate. [SPEAKER_05]: I think everyone kind of expected that, but it's good to get that confirmation. [SPEAKER_05]: We're excited by what we're building and we promise you when we are ready, it'll be a lot of fun to show.

22:40 [SPEAKER_05]: Until then, thank you for your patience because y'all are thirsty for news and I see you looking for secret meanings in my tweets. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, sometimes they have secret meanings. [SPEAKER_05]: So a couple of thoughts from me on this one. [SPEAKER_05]: When Gamble says, we're excited by what we're building and we promise you, when we are ready, it'll be a lot of fun to show.

23:03 [SPEAKER_05]: This is what I was talking about with you a couple of years ago, Bon, where I was like, [SPEAKER_05]: By or please don't let the developers don't let marketing push you to over promise, you know, like just be honest, this is what I was talking about. [SPEAKER_05]: So good, good on my gamble to just be like full stop, we're going to like, you know, give you the responsible message, which is that we are still working on it, we just straight up don't have a lot to show you right now, but when we are ready, it will be a lot of fun to show.

23:39 [SPEAKER_05]: What did you guys think about this? [SPEAKER_06]: I agree with that and I want them to do that. [SPEAKER_06]: Don't give me things that aren't ready to be seen yet. [SPEAKER_06]: Don't make promises that are not going to be able to be kept. [SPEAKER_06]: Don't put a timeline on things if you're not ready and able to hit those timeline goals.

24:01 [SPEAKER_06]: I don't, if you don't tell me what the timeline is, I'm not going to know what the timeline is. [SPEAKER_06]: So don't tell me what to expect and then unfortunately get disappointed when that can't be made. [SPEAKER_06]: Going with a little bit of bigness on like they're building these things.

24:18 [SPEAKER_06]: They're figuring these things out right now. [SPEAKER_06]: that's all me as the future consumer really needs to know. [SPEAKER_06]: If I was on the dev team, yeah, I need to know what my fucking timeline is so that way I can actually do my job. [SPEAKER_06]: But my job is to enjoy the game that you wanted to produce.

24:37 [SPEAKER_06]: That's my job. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, absolutely. [SPEAKER_05]: Bon, you have anything to add? [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, like, what you were talking about before with the engine, like, you know, I'm sure they had stuff they could have shown that they probably could show us concept or they could show us maybe little bits and bobs and stuff like that, which I would love, but that may not really be good for the message right now and the thing you were talking about before the engine.

25:02 [SPEAKER_08]: You know, they are switching over to Unreal Engine 5. [SPEAKER_08]: That's been pretty clear for a while. [SPEAKER_08]: Even back to, it was at least 21 while I started paying attention. [SPEAKER_08]: They've had job listings all the way back to then being very clear that they wanted people with under all back then.

25:15 [SPEAKER_08]: They said Unreal Engine 4 experience because five had like just come out. [SPEAKER_08]: And now, if you look even the two job listings that just got filled in the last month or so, we're both requesting, they were a level designer jobs. [SPEAKER_08]: We're both saying they require Unreal Engine experience.

25:31 [SPEAKER_08]: The chances are, you know, if this game's been in some kind of pre-production since 2019, 2020, the majority of that time has probably been then putting in all the infrastructure they need to make a game on a different engine than what they've done since Mass Effect 3, because then position was frostbite, I believe, and everything since then has been.

25:54 [SPEAKER_08]: So like they're, you know, having to build new processes, new everything and that's probably what they've been doing for a lot of that time and, you know, but like I think both of you said, as much as I would love to see anything they're willing to show me, I also am cool if they take their time and wait till they're ready.

26:11 [SPEAKER_05]: And speaking of staffing, I've noticed that you've really kept your ear to the ground on that with different job postings that go up so that you can glean some details about the development status from that what's the latest overall picture that you're getting from when you look at you know what jobs are open what jobs have been taken down potentially filled.

26:35 [SPEAKER_08]: So back in like 2021, I believe that's when they had like five or six director jobs posted. [SPEAKER_08]: And they all got filled that year. [SPEAKER_08]: And as far as I know, all those people are still there. [SPEAKER_08]: So that was like Mary de Marley who came over from [SPEAKER_08]: I believe who did the Deus Exchames and the Guardians of the Galaxy game, which if you've never played that game, it's the dialogue wise, the closest we've ever gotten to Mass Effect since Mass Effect, which makes me super happy that she's still in that position.

27:07 [SPEAKER_08]: In 2022, they had some job listings that were referencing Mass Effect, and then 23 and 24 were almost exclusively Dragon Age. [SPEAKER_08]: And they were contractor jobs almost exclusively. [SPEAKER_08]: Six months, 12 month contracts. [SPEAKER_08]: There was nothing specifically for Mass Effect for almost two years.

27:24 [SPEAKER_08]: And then this year, [SPEAKER_08]: There's been at least three or four massive ex-specific job listings. [SPEAKER_08]: And the two that just got filled, one came off the board, I think the day before in seven day. [SPEAKER_08]: And then the other was the day of, it was a principal level designer, which from what I was reading the description, I think is a direct report to Mike to Gamble.

27:46 [SPEAKER_08]: and then lead level designer, which I assume is the person under that, and from what I was seeing people chatter about and people I've chatted with, those are significant positions behind for, and he talks about development that we're developing the game. [SPEAKER_08]: What I'm waiting for is that post of weird and full production, because they did that for veil guard.

28:07 [SPEAKER_08]: And if you go from that post, until release, it was only like two and a half years. [SPEAKER_08]: I think people forget that these games get made a lot faster and you think once they get the wheels turn and things happen fast, it's the wheels turning, you know, the scaffolding that takes all this time.

28:24 [SPEAKER_08]: What's really getting EA to say yes, you can actually make this game. [SPEAKER_08]: So, there's been more activity in the last six months with hiring than there has been in the last two and a half three years. [SPEAKER_08]: So, take that for what it is. [SPEAKER_05]: And you said, you know, from that blog post of a bail guard to the time that it released to is about two and a half years, bail guard also encountered a lot of problems that mass effect is likely not going to have to.

28:50 [SPEAKER_05]: that doesn't, that doesn't say that. [SPEAKER_05]: Mass Effect won't have it. [SPEAKER_05]: Mass Effect development will have its own issues. [SPEAKER_05]: But, you know, from what I've read of reporting about the development process behind VailGuard, that really looked like development hell.

29:05 [SPEAKER_05]: And on top of that, it was during COVID. [SPEAKER_08]: And they basically made three games. [SPEAKER_08]: From what I've read, they started making one game. [SPEAKER_08]: That got nicks one way or the other. [SPEAKER_08]: They basically started making another game, and that got nicks. [SPEAKER_08]: And then from the ashes of that, VilleGuard happens.

29:24 [SPEAKER_08]: And when you know that, like, I like to be a guard. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not really that big of a dragon age fan. [SPEAKER_08]: I enjoyed it. [SPEAKER_08]: It seems like me not being a dragon age fan might have been part of why I enjoyed it so much. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not steeped in that lore.

29:35 [SPEAKER_08]: I'm not, you know, I just thought was a fun game. [SPEAKER_08]: And I thought it was like pretty. [SPEAKER_08]: And I thought, you know, I thought the story was kind of fun. [SPEAKER_08]: I didn't love everything about it. [SPEAKER_08]: I definitely have my complaints. [SPEAKER_08]: But like that game, [SPEAKER_08]: went through so much to exist.

29:52 [SPEAKER_08]: And I just don't think you can presume that Mass Effect will go through the same issues. [SPEAKER_08]: You never know what can happen. [SPEAKER_08]: But that was such a unique circumstance. [SPEAKER_08]: It seems like when you see Mark Dara talk about that development cycle and how all that stuff happened, you just kind of hope at least that Mass Effect won't go through that, too.

30:11 [SPEAKER_05]: Right on. [SPEAKER_05]: The blog post continues for a little bit more. [SPEAKER_05]: And some promising details to me, [SPEAKER_05]: beyond the next game. [SPEAKER_05]: There's more to get excited about. [SPEAKER_05]: I haven't talked about it much, but you might have heard a little something about a TV series.

30:28 [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, and now at this point, you know, my eyebrows are peaking. [SPEAKER_08]: Do you not heard of it? [SPEAKER_05]: I had heard. [SPEAKER_05]: But it was just that literally the week before this, Genesis and I were talking with our patrons on the show. [SPEAKER_05]: and we all kind of agreed that we were most likely to hear something definitive about the TV show, not about the because TV shows the production is a lot faster.

30:57 [SPEAKER_05]: So, gamble goes on to say we've been partnering closely with Amazon on it and we're really excited with what the talented team over there is coming up with. [SPEAKER_05]: The writer's room is going strong and we've [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, that's promising so it's going to be canon and where it sits and respect to the new game.

31:20 [SPEAKER_05]: The show will explore a brand new story within the universe's timeline and it will be set after the original trilogy. [SPEAKER_05]: Whoa, okay, huge details actually because this is like [SPEAKER_05]: The first solid details about Mass Effect canon lore that we've got in so long, like, oh my god.

31:50 [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, so let's Krillogy kid and lore on top of that. [SPEAKER_05]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_05]: So let's let's revisit this a little bit in case anyone was trying to rewind real quick. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: So number one, the show is going to explore a brand new story. [SPEAKER_05]: So we're [SPEAKER_05]: It will be happy.

32:09 [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. [SPEAKER_05]: And Gamble says it will not be a retreat of commander shepherd story because after all, that's your story, isn't it? [SPEAKER_05]: So not a rehash of shepherd story, not a rehash of any of the novels, not a rehash of the first contact war or it could be, but not any prequel because Gamble says it will be set after the original trilogy.

32:38 [SPEAKER_05]: It could be $1.87, could be $1.87, could be $1.47, could be $1.47, could be $1.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.47, could be $2.

33:10 [SPEAKER_06]: There's that within the universe's timeline, and that could be at any point on the timeline, 500 years in the future, who knows. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm so happy about this, though. [SPEAKER_06]: This is something that I got really excited about with it giving us actual details. [SPEAKER_06]: solid information and that we can work with.

33:36 [SPEAKER_06]: And so now it makes me even more excited for the TV show. [SPEAKER_08]: And, and also basically nothing, like he basically quelled fears, but didn't give anything away, which is what he's supposed to do. [SPEAKER_08]: You know, it was, it was, it was a, it was a good statement. [SPEAKER_05]: I think it, yeah, I agree.

33:52 [SPEAKER_05]: It didn't, it wasn't incredibly descriptive, but he knew what we wanted, what we were afraid of it. [SPEAKER_05]: So clearly, Mike Gamble and other people that work with him are attuned to what this community cares about. [SPEAKER_05]: And I'm willing to bet you that someone on the game's development side really pushed the writers of the TV show, [SPEAKER_05]: let us give them something at least this at least let us confirm to the fans that the TV series is going to be after the original trilogy seriously just a little bit just let us please it will go a long way I promise you like I can just imagine that conversation now because especially with you know TV shows and games you know as we just heard from Peter Jessup like couple weeks ago

34:44 [SPEAKER_05]: um, that they are very protective of their IPs. [SPEAKER_05]: So I was kind of surprised to even get that after so many years of teases, but that's huge. [SPEAKER_05]: And for me, it also makes me think that the TV show could quite likely serve the purpose that the trilogy of novels did in the original trilogy of games, where each game had a companion novel that came out kind of right before it and bridged the [SPEAKER_05]: setting the stage.

35:15 [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: So who knows, maybe the CV show is going to set the stage, maybe it'll connect to the Milky Way storyline to end drama to storyline? [SPEAKER_05]: Who knows? [SPEAKER_05]: Sorry, Bon, you wanted to say something? [SPEAKER_08]: Well, I do have to probably bring on some hate to myself.

35:32 [SPEAKER_08]: I'm probably one of the few people who I'm, I prefer what they seem to be doing, moving on from aspect 3, moving forward, and likely being the bridge to the next game. [SPEAKER_08]: I, as a newer fan, I assume, is the main reason I would have been okay in some capacity with a rehash of the original and not really because I want them to do that because that would cost so many problems and it would upset the people who were their target audience already.

36:00 [SPEAKER_08]: But one thing I've talked a lot about my own content is about how one of the things I think veil guards struggled with is that it had been a decade since their last game. [SPEAKER_08]: And one of the things that happened, at least from what I recognized, is that they didn't really make their existing fans happy with a lot of the things they did in that game.

36:21 [SPEAKER_08]: And they also didn't really appeal to new fans that well. [SPEAKER_08]: Because it kind of didn't market it a ton. [SPEAKER_08]: And there's lots of things that happened there, like literally their main marketing partner, game and former shut down before the months for the game came out.

36:40 [SPEAKER_08]: how they're going to market Mass Effect to a new audience and try to keep their existing audience. [SPEAKER_08]: Because if you think about Endromida, it's going to be at least 10 years from Endromida by the time this game likely comes out. [SPEAKER_08]: not to mention the trilogy, which I think, now if you think about legendary edition, which literally brought me on, so maybe that helps them stay a little more relevant.

37:03 [SPEAKER_08]: My only reason I thought that madey rehashing the original story would have been okay was to bring people into the universe at the beginning, but I'm glad they didn't do that, because I don't think they could have done it in a way that would have made anyone happy. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, yeah, I agree with that.

37:18 [SPEAKER_05]: Genesis, what do you think? [SPEAKER_06]: I fully agree with that. [SPEAKER_06]: I don't think that every hashing of Shepherd's story would have been it I think it would have alienated a lot of the older fans of like this was my story and now I'm I'm seeing it being played out like because no matter what it wasn't going to look like our shepherds you know our shepherds all are so individual and personalized to us.

37:42 [SPEAKER_06]: And then the decisions that we make, the romances that we pick, the people that we choose to bring with us on these missions, those are all very personal to us. [SPEAKER_06]: And I so that's why I didn't really like the idea of it being a rehash of that. [SPEAKER_06]: But I thought I also believe that the TV series is going to be a lead up to the next game because it is something that by our work where is so well known for.

38:13 [SPEAKER_06]: They did the books and the comic books for Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_06]: They did the books for Andromeda. [SPEAKER_06]: They did comic books and books for the original Dragon Age, the original Dragon Age trilogy. [SPEAKER_06]: And then most recently they did do a Netflix animated series and an audio drama podcast.

38:32 [SPEAKER_06]: for the bail guard, but the Netflix animated series was really, really good, but they didn't tie any of those characters into the bail guard story, which I think was a huge loss from that. [SPEAKER_06]: But so hopefully they will be able to tie these stories together better than what they did for bail guard.

38:59 [SPEAKER_06]: I am a, I am a pretty big Dragon Age fan as well. [SPEAKER_06]: And I didn't play those games until like five, six years ago. [SPEAKER_06]: And that's when I really started getting into him or no way less than that. [SPEAKER_06]: It was three years ago that I really started playing Dragon Age.

39:15 [SPEAKER_06]: And so I didn't have that huge weight time in between inquisition and the veil guard. [SPEAKER_06]: So I was still really excited about it. [SPEAKER_06]: But a lot of my friends are like, it was way too big of a gap. [SPEAKER_06]: So you're kind of like me with my passion. [SPEAKER_08]: Mm-hmm.

39:34 [SPEAKER_08]: Um, I can't ask you to do something. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm curious. [SPEAKER_08]: Do you guys wish it was an animated show and not live action? [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I do. [SPEAKER_05]: There's far less room to butcher the way that these aliens, especially the non-humanoid ones, look. [SPEAKER_05]: If you're just doing animated show, whereas live action, I don't know if you're going to rely on CGI, it's incredibly expensive.

40:03 [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know if you're going to lean into, you know, Jenny I, which could really riles some feathers. [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know how you're going to depict that or you're going to just put someone in a hand-r suit like a horse costume, you don't know what are you going to do, right? [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I would prefer an animated series.

40:22 [SPEAKER_05]: Genesis, I see you shaking your head, no. [SPEAKER_05]: You'd prefer live action, really? [SPEAKER_06]: I, yeah, um, only because I grew up watching Star Trek, like going through the next generation Voyager, all of those shows where, yeah, given the time and the money and the expertise, you can make aliens look really realistic and have them be believable, and especially now that you've got Amazon money being thrown at it.

40:51 [SPEAKER_06]: I'm sorry, watching Fallout 4. [SPEAKER_06]: I believe ghouls are real, you know? [SPEAKER_06]: Like, all I should say is something something that they would do. [SPEAKER_06]: So I think, and the animated series, [SPEAKER_06]: I'm not a big animation person. [SPEAKER_06]: You know, I kind of grew out of watching cartoons a while ago.

41:13 [SPEAKER_05]: Excuse me. [SPEAKER_05]: No, okay, seriously. [SPEAKER_05]: Like there's there's cartoons and then there is adult animation, right? [SPEAKER_05]: Like blood of Zeus on Netflix. [SPEAKER_05]: It's a great example. [SPEAKER_05]: I'm not letting my child watch that. [SPEAKER_06]: No. [SPEAKER_06]: No, and I agree there.

41:32 [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, like, I love Vox Machina. [SPEAKER_06]: I watch all of that. [SPEAKER_06]: I watch the cyberpunk Edrunner's anime. [SPEAKER_06]: Absolutely love that. [SPEAKER_06]: But it takes more for me to want to watch an animated series than it does a live action. [SPEAKER_08]: Those also probably take longer than make.

41:48 [SPEAKER_08]: like that's a thing to that that animation is insanely hard to do. [SPEAKER_08]: And just to throw it out there, it's worth also considering that Unreal Engine 5 is what a lot of TV studios and movie studios are using for special effects nowadays. [SPEAKER_08]: Wow, I didn't know that there's there's a very real chance that in some capacity they could share assets to a point and that would be quite interesting, something to consider as well.

42:14 [SPEAKER_05]: Not just assets, but maybe even staff. [SPEAKER_05]: And the other thing about, that's really interesting to think about, regardless of whether it was animated or live action, the Mass Effect TV show, if it does happen to be a companion or even if it's not, they can come out with multiple seasons, season after season after season, kind of bridging that gap until we wait for the next game, which would make it, I think, for the entire fan base, a little bit easier than just waiting for nothing.

42:44 [SPEAKER_06]: I didn't even think about multiple seasons here. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm going like give me an episode and I will be happy. [SPEAKER_06]: But the idea of multiple seasons bringing along a storyline and things like that, that makes it really intriguing. [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, the second season of fallout comes out here in a couple of weeks.

43:03 [SPEAKER_05]: Exactly. [SPEAKER_05]: And I think if they do it right, it will be a smash it just like fall out. [SPEAKER_05]: And then, you know, you would get that second season, maybe even a third. [SPEAKER_05]: But let's wrap up the blog post and then go to the mid break. [SPEAKER_05]: My gamble says keep an eye on our social channels for more celebrations today on in seven day and over seven, including some awesome new Mass Effect gear.

43:26 [SPEAKER_05]: have very hinted about how great they are at putting out new Mass Effect gear. [SPEAKER_05]: I remember when they were just as good at shipping masterpieces, but anyway, they've got free crossover items he says appearing in skate and apex legends and more. [SPEAKER_05]: Happy in seven day Mike Gamble executive producer Mass Effect PS disclaimer, there is no secret game information to be gleaned by anything [SPEAKER_05]: Well, that turned out to be a lie.

43:58 [SPEAKER_08]: He's a stinker. [SPEAKER_05]: He's a stinker. [SPEAKER_05]: That turned out to be a lie. [SPEAKER_05]: The thing you can't hear from listening to us read this blog post is there were letters seemingly randomly strewn throughout it that were italicized. [SPEAKER_05]: And when you put them all together, you got URL crowgain.

44:19 [SPEAKER_05]: Now, some internet sleuths put this all together and found that it actually led to some artwork. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, I'm going to be showing the artwork here on screen. [SPEAKER_05]: This is what you're missing. [SPEAKER_05]: If you aren't watching our live streams or going on YouTube. [SPEAKER_05]: So here's the artwork that's that it was linked to.

44:40 [SPEAKER_05]: And it's a picture of Crogan. [SPEAKER_05]: And on the bottom, it just says Civil War. [SPEAKER_05]: And it's a picture of a score of Crogan looks like they're in an organized military of some sort, and they're all firing kind of at the same direction as the point of view from where you're looking.

45:02 [SPEAKER_05]: It's really hard. [SPEAKER_05]: to make out exactly where they are. [SPEAKER_05]: But I just see I see a lot of uh, Crogan soldiers. [SPEAKER_05]: I see a, uh, Argus rifle. [SPEAKER_05]: I see a, is that a talent pistol? [SPEAKER_05]: What pistol is executioner? [SPEAKER_05]: I think actually.

45:21 [SPEAKER_08]: I think so. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: And so it looks like a very similar scene from what we're used to in the original trilogy, at least in terms of firearms and armor. [SPEAKER_05]: All of the Crogon are wearing helmets with a breather on them, except for one in the very foreground.

45:43 [SPEAKER_05]: And Genesis, you want to describe what we're seeing with that Crogon in particular. [SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, this is the interesting boy here that we're looking at. [SPEAKER_06]: He caught my eye because I recognize those whiskers. [SPEAKER_06]: There's only one other croak in that we have met in the entire Mass Effect series that has a beard like whiskers on his face.

46:11 [SPEAKER_06]: These bony-like protrusions coming off of his chin. [SPEAKER_05]: Now, Drak had both of his eyes, correct? [SPEAKER_05]: Because it looks like one of these Scrogant. [SPEAKER_05]: One of these Scrogant's eyes is like gone. [SPEAKER_05]: Like there's a scar over it. [SPEAKER_05]: And the eyeball is there, but it looks Milky White, like he's blind, in that eye.

46:35 [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I don't think that this is drag, but this is just another way of tying it into and drama that because we don't know if those protrusions were something that drag naturally had or something that happened in that 500 year span of [SPEAKER_06]: the cryogenic, the of the being frozen, because we know that a lot of Crogan did end up changing, that's why some of them are like, very, they're very different.

47:04 [SPEAKER_06]: And so I'm one, I don't know if those protrusions are something from these are now and drama of Crogan, or something that happens naturally. [SPEAKER_05]: Or maybe this is just like a thing for Crogan now, right? [SPEAKER_05]: Like maybe the, the appearance of Crogan is evolving with the series.

47:22 [SPEAKER_05]: Bon, what do you think? [SPEAKER_08]: Um, I mean, it could be like a lineage thing, you know, for all we know, maybe there's a, you know, a family or a bloodline of Crogan that look like this when they get old, uh, maybe, you know, that's, you know, drag came from the Milky Way, you know, so it's, you know, one way or the other, um, I can't remember [SPEAKER_08]: Because I guess Rex was considered to be pretty old, but he didn't have that similar thing.

47:48 [SPEAKER_08]: So one of the things I know this right there, we can see a variant to the left bit there, like a tack dog. [SPEAKER_04]: Oh, yep. [SPEAKER_08]: There's a verin there and then there's two of the those I can't know how the pronounce it right so we put it in chat the tanks there's two tanks as well so one is above that verin yeah the time that one there and then there's one all the way on the right.

48:13 [SPEAKER_08]: That you can see the the kind of red the line of the the visor yeah the other thing I've noticed about this as well is that circular architecture in the background looks a whole lot like grunts breeding tank. [SPEAKER_08]: Yes, no, it looks like his loyalty mission into the hammer where you summon the, oh, the sacrificial, the worm.

48:42 [SPEAKER_08]: Of course, I can't remember it right now. [SPEAKER_05]: The Cal, or not, Cal, or us, the Thresh, or him on. [SPEAKER_05]: I know what you're saying. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_08]: So the last thing I noticed here is, and I think a lot of [SPEAKER_08]: and that they have the glowing bits on them, and I've seen a lot of people speculate that maybe that's a new ammunition system or something like that.

49:05 [SPEAKER_08]: I've proposed that this could be a gameplay element that they're already previewing, where in Mass Effect 2 and 3, whenever you pick the certain kind of ammo, it would have the little hologram, which if you think about it, it was real life, [SPEAKER_08]: Like if you were a first person shooter, that thing would be covering your entire face because it was so it was a game play element for the games obviously I'm wondering that maybe this is a preview of how they're going to show emotypes on guns I'm just having like a glowing bit it's a little more aesthetically pleasing a little more grounded.

49:33 [SPEAKER_05]: Sure, yeah, and it also gives at least for this artwork a splash of color that's not orange. [SPEAKER_05]: It is very, very orange, there's lots of flames, lots of gunfire going on. [SPEAKER_05]: We see one crogan running with a hammer or at least an oversized pipe wrench. [SPEAKER_08]: There's another one, and if you scroll down to the bottom middle, one in the very front of the frame.

49:55 [SPEAKER_08]: Oh, yeah, there it is. [SPEAKER_08]: There's another one right there. [SPEAKER_05]: Yep, so it's kind of like a hammer, blunt weapon-looking thing. [SPEAKER_05]: That's really interesting. [SPEAKER_05]: And if you zoom in on these crowgons faces, it's not a full helmet that they're wearing.

50:10 [SPEAKER_05]: It's, they've got a armor. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that's a protection thing over the crest of their head, covering where their ears would be. [SPEAKER_05]: And then a breather, but you can see their eyes. [SPEAKER_05]: So like, it's not like a completely, [SPEAKER_05]: closed helmet. [SPEAKER_05]: They don't have a visor and what's interesting to me is they have like what looked to be filters coming out from this breather right here which would make me think what has happened where the Crogon [SPEAKER_05]: need breeders right notoriously hearty crogan which there is some planet I forget which planet it is now uh but there is some planet card in mass effect that says uh no one else could colonize the place basically and the crogan were the ones who were only with with the only one's hearty enough to do it and could breathe the atmosphere no problem um and i'm not talking

51:10 [SPEAKER_05]: But you know, I'll minimize that for now and at the very bottom, it says Civil War. [SPEAKER_05]: So we also get that artwork. [SPEAKER_05]: When someone asks my gamble on Twitter about that artwork, is this a past event or future? [SPEAKER_05]: Because we know that the Crogan have gone through many wars in the past, on the run home world of Tuchaka.

51:34 [SPEAKER_05]: And gamble, to my surprise, once again, confirm something solid here and says future. [SPEAKER_05]: This is a future event. [SPEAKER_05]: So this is something we have not seen in the games yet. [SPEAKER_06]: Wow. [SPEAKER_06]: I didn't know that he confirmed that. [SPEAKER_06]: That's amazing.

51:52 [SPEAKER_06]: Wow. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, right. [SPEAKER_05]: Really makes you think now like, okay. [SPEAKER_05]: So what are what are they fighting about? [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know. [SPEAKER_05]: We have a lot of speculation. [SPEAKER_05]: We can get to that in the second half, but I do want to push us to some of these tweets that Mike Gamble sent out.

52:10 [SPEAKER_05]: Um, because at least the first one is kind of telling to me, we started this episode with talking about, uh, where the community was leading up to in seven day, and this is a tweet that might get put out at 828. [SPEAKER_05]: So like 28 minutes. [SPEAKER_05]: After posting that blog post, Mike Gamble puts out a tweet that says, for everyone yelling at me because we didn't use in seven day to provide a whole bunch of info.

52:38 [SPEAKER_05]: Dot.dot. [SPEAKER_05]: I mean, I get it. [SPEAKER_05]: I'm a fan too. [SPEAKER_05]: I want you to see stuff, but it's not the time yet. [SPEAKER_05]: Has it been years since announced? [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. [SPEAKER_05]: Have we been busy? [SPEAKER_05]: Yes. [SPEAKER_05]: Are we now 100% on mass fact?

52:54 [SPEAKER_05]: Also yes. [SPEAKER_05]: Ma'on, what did you think about this? [SPEAKER_08]: So he sent that before people figured out the Crogans Civil War thing. [SPEAKER_08]: I think anyone who was around for the 2023 and seven day is already trained that when you saw those italics, actually it was italics on the BioWare blog and on the EA blog it was actually bolded instead, those letters.

53:19 [SPEAKER_08]: I assume there's a formatting difference or something with them. [SPEAKER_08]: And I'm just not smart enough to figure that out. [SPEAKER_08]: I tried, I gave my best college try to figure out and you know how to find that picture. [SPEAKER_08]: I had the way for you know smarter people to do it.

53:35 [SPEAKER_08]: And so I knew something else was coming. [SPEAKER_08]: And I will lie. [SPEAKER_08]: My first reaction when I opened up the blog it was all text was like, ah, come on. [SPEAKER_08]: Like give me a little more, give me some concept art, give me something. [SPEAKER_08]: But his, you know, I'm glad I saw that tweet almost immediately.

53:50 [SPEAKER_08]: And it was like, you know what? [SPEAKER_08]: Maybe I should chill out. [SPEAKER_08]: And I'm glad you push back. [SPEAKER_08]: I love when I see devs, push back on people, be in jerks about things that they don't need to be jerks about. [SPEAKER_08]: I love seeing devs stand up for themselves and their teams.

54:03 [SPEAKER_08]: So I'm happy that you put out that statement. [SPEAKER_08]: And one day, we'll forget that we didn't know anything because we'll know everything. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, well, it might be harder for me to forget because I have to focus on it every year, right? [SPEAKER_05]: But Virginia says, what did you think of Mike Gamble's statement here, you know, kind of telling all the fans who were quote unquote yelling at him to just basically back off.

54:32 [SPEAKER_06]: Good for him. [SPEAKER_06]: I mean, we've been, I've been saying it the whole time of let them do their job, quit yelling at them for more, quit pushing for the game to come out faster, quit pushing for more information. [SPEAKER_06]: We get what we get and we'll get the game when we get the game.

54:54 [SPEAKER_05]: Right on, yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: He sent another one later on in seven day, around 12.57 PM. [SPEAKER_05]: I think he couldn't help himself here because he says everything you've seen, hyphen from all in seven days, hyphen will connect. [SPEAKER_05]: Q the X files theme. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, so basically everything is connected from all in seven days.

55:24 [SPEAKER_05]: That's what he says. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: Now we've got a lot to talk about in terms of speculation and where we think things are going given what we've learned this in seven day and apparently all in seven days. [SPEAKER_05]: But first, we get to go over to the mid break and thank our patrons.

55:41 [SPEAKER_05]: We'll be right back. [SPEAKER_01]: We have beef, bacon, we have beer, the foods of my people. [SPEAKER_00]: Young men have funny ideas of what a story are like. [SPEAKER_00]: I blame the extra net and computer games. [SPEAKER_08]: Rex, Shepherd, Grant, Shepherd, Rex. [SPEAKER_05]: And here we are in the middle of the show where we read out your five-star reviews that you've left for us on Apple or comments.

56:09 [SPEAKER_05]: You've left on Spotify. [SPEAKER_05]: And Genesis, we do have a new review coming in from Apple. [SPEAKER_05]: The user named Sciences for cool kids gives us five stars from Australia. [SPEAKER_05]: They say, quote, damn, this is literally the best podcast out there. [SPEAKER_05]: I started Mass Effect Legendary Edition two years ago after a mediocre playthrough of in drama.

56:32 [SPEAKER_05]: I've been obsessed with Shepard and his crew since, bad, best podcast ever. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, thank you, science is for cool kids. [SPEAKER_05]: I don't think we're the best podcast ever, but we have a lot of fun. [SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, also science totally is for the cool kids fully agree with you on that one go science also hello from Australia love that I've been to Australia spent a lot of time in Sydney so that's super awesome and you know I don't think we're the best but I think we're pretty damn awesome.

57:07 [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I think we're pretty awesome as well. [SPEAKER_05]: We also have this comment from Spotify on our patron channel, but so talking about in seven day expectations, where the cool stick says, I've been super excited for in seven days since last year and this podcast has been one of the only things getting me through it.

57:25 [SPEAKER_05]: The dissection episode will be awesome. [SPEAKER_05]: No matter what happens, five stars love this lorecast. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, thank you, cool stick. [SPEAKER_05]: I hope that this episode that we are recording right now is indeed as awesome as you hoped it would be. [SPEAKER_05]: But let's go over now to the voice line pop quiz where we've got a little bit of a twist here.

57:47 [SPEAKER_05]: Bond is going to quiz me and you, Genesis off of a [SPEAKER_06]: All right, let's do it. [SPEAKER_05]: All right. [SPEAKER_05]: So I told Bond to send me this audio file. [SPEAKER_05]: And I said, name it something in conspicuous that way. [SPEAKER_05]: I don't know what it's called. [SPEAKER_05]: And he named it BD voice line, fair enough.

58:12 [SPEAKER_05]: Bond is a voice line. [SPEAKER_05]: So let's give it a listen right now. [SPEAKER_05]: On the double, Mr. OK, that was pretty quick. [SPEAKER_05]: Let's play it one more time just for people in their car. [SPEAKER_02]: On the double, Mr. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, all on the double, Mr. That's Mark Meer.

58:29 [SPEAKER_06]: I'll be a spro- yeah, I'll be a spro- ship. [SPEAKER_06]: On the double, Mr. Oh, I thought this was another. [SPEAKER_08]: I mostly picked this because it's one of my favorite lines in the entire franchise. [SPEAKER_08]: Mostly because of the delivery. [SPEAKER_08]: And Bob was afraid it was gonna be too easy, so I'm happy if it's not.

58:49 [SPEAKER_05]: So I should know this because I recognize it, but I cannot place it right now on the double Mr. [SPEAKER_05]: I feel like he has to be talking to Joker. [SPEAKER_05]: So Shepard talking to Joker now we got to identify [SPEAKER_08]: This is a massive heck of one. [SPEAKER_08]: This was their corny era.

59:24 [SPEAKER_05]: This was the corny era. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, okay. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, I'm getting announcements from Twitch chat here that day zero is going to replace me on the podcast. [SPEAKER_05]: So, all right. [SPEAKER_08]: It's the chat has it right. [SPEAKER_08]: It's at the end of the fair on mission where you get Lyra.

59:39 [SPEAKER_08]: when the cave is exploding before you fight that battle, the final battle master. [SPEAKER_08]: You have two choices in the voice lines, and one of them is a little less, you know, whatever, but if you pick this one as brochure, he says in the most hilarious, in my opinion, one of the funniest voices possible on the double, Mr, and then Joker responds, okay, I'm on my way.

1:00:02 [SPEAKER_08]: I just, every time I play through [SPEAKER_08]: willing to admit at this point. [SPEAKER_08]: I have to pick it every time because, you know, I think that a lot of people have mixed opinions on, you know, it's okay to be either way or love both between Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer. [SPEAKER_08]: I love how corny he was obviously a new voice actor in that first game and was kind of getting into that world and some of the lines are so cheesy and I [SPEAKER_05]: Well, congrats.

1:00:35 [SPEAKER_05]: You stumped both of us. [SPEAKER_05]: So congrats on that one. [SPEAKER_05]: All right. [SPEAKER_05]: Well now that we've been stumped, Genesis, let's thank our new patrons, Cory, Regent Tech, and iceberg slim. [SPEAKER_05]: Thank you all for joining the patron where you can support us and speaking of support, we should shout out our tier five patrons.

1:00:56 [SPEAKER_05]: who have continued their very generous level of support. [SPEAKER_05]: So our tier five patrons are butts, butts, butts, unfortunate benefactor, William Superfly 440 Red Trobat, Lieutenant Tocina, Carasi, and Edboy. [SPEAKER_05]: All right, and with that, let's get back to the rest of the show.

1:01:13 [SPEAKER_04]: After time, a drift among open stars, a long tide of light and through shows of dust, I will return to where I began. [SPEAKER_03]: Celery and reproduction different, very little sex drive. [SPEAKER_03]: If intended to try human, would try you. [SPEAKER_01]: Ow, my bakeries! [SPEAKER_05]: All right, here we are in the second half of the show, and as I promised, we're going to be spending the rest of the show speculating about what all this means, all this information that has and has not been confirmed and where we think this series is going to go from here.

1:01:45 [SPEAKER_05]: Number one, I wanted to open it up to you, bond and as well as you Genesis, everything will connect. [SPEAKER_05]: That's what my gamble says. [SPEAKER_05]: What does that be? [SPEAKER_05]: Is this some kind of master piece of lore woven throughout five years of teases now or is this a placeholder to try and get us to spend one more year over and analyzing and buying them more time?

1:02:10 [SPEAKER_08]: probably both if I have to be totally honest and that's cool. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm on for the ride. [SPEAKER_08]: I have been for four years and I'm willing to be for longer. [SPEAKER_08]: That was cool to me because I've seen a lot of people in Iowa blame them, but people being like kind of skeptical whether or not that 2020 trailer from the Game Awards is even still relevant.

1:02:31 [SPEAKER_08]: Whether or not that bit of audio [SPEAKER_08]: And at least in my opinion, my interpretation of what he said is he's saying everything we've shown is relevant and it's all connected in it matters and that just makes me happy. [SPEAKER_06]: I also think that they use little lore bits were not really a whole lot of lore.

1:02:59 [SPEAKER_06]: It's not like they gave us any information that couldn't be easily woven into whatever storyline they put out. [SPEAKER_06]: We see a person in an N7 jacket. [SPEAKER_06]: Okay, that's easy. [SPEAKER_06]: And then we see Lyara, the one person who's almost absolutely guaranteed to survive the trilogy because of plot armor.

1:03:22 [SPEAKER_06]: finding a piece of armor that says N7 on it. [SPEAKER_06]: We don't even know if that's Shepherd's armor. [SPEAKER_06]: We don't know if that's Vegas armor. [SPEAKER_06]: It could be Legion's armor, whose ever N7 armor Lyara is finding it could be anyone's and that could easily be brought in.

1:03:39 [SPEAKER_06]: The only other one that we [SPEAKER_06]: haven't really talked about is the death poster. [SPEAKER_06]: Um, and so working that story into it also, okay, yeah, a Crogan, a Salarian, a Turing in a human, all are collecting. [SPEAKER_06]: bits of death that are dead death that could also very easily be brought in.

1:04:02 [SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, I do think that everything can easily be woven in together. [SPEAKER_06]: The only other thing that I had to say on this part was that it now actually officially canonizes that Dragon Age and Mass Effect happened in the same universe. [SPEAKER_05]: Please walk us through that one.

1:04:23 [SPEAKER_06]: If all things put out on N7 day, our canon and our connected, I got armor for my characters in the veil guard last year on N7 day. [SPEAKER_06]: And it says that it was delivered from beyond the veil. [SPEAKER_06]: I'm sorry, isn't the percius veil out there? [SPEAKER_06]: It's beyond the veil and a gift of N7 armor was [SPEAKER_05]: is like a taffy left in a hot car level stretch.

1:04:56 [SPEAKER_06]: This is, it's not that far. [SPEAKER_05]: It's, I don't know about this one, Genesis. [SPEAKER_05]: I got to be honest with you. [SPEAKER_06]: There's a mounted Crogan head in D.A.2. [SPEAKER_05]: Right, there are easter eggs. [SPEAKER_06]: I think the, I think the, you guys are really missing here.

1:05:13 [SPEAKER_08]: You can't, you can't Cornelius in chat says, and skate is now also officially in the lore and the same universe and apex legends. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, so, all right, all right, so that I'm, I'm gonna play Devils Advocate, not because I enjoy it. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: I'm doing.

1:05:40 [SPEAKER_05]: I really think that the whole, you know, everything is connected. [SPEAKER_05]: Is basically like him having fun with the fan base and going like the numbers Mason the numbers what do they mean? [SPEAKER_05]: Because it's fun like if you're on the other side of it you're kind of feeling like a puppet master I bet where you know that these people so many people are waiting for crumbs literally crumbs And from crumbs they can try and deduce what the entire meal upon the table is let me all that they cannot see yet [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, and so I feel like he's just having fun and on the other end, I'm like, it also serves quite a convenient purpose for the development team to buy themselves one more year, right?

1:06:31 [SPEAKER_05]: And then that has been like an ongoing theme of past in seven days like it's just enough. [SPEAKER_05]: to get us to keep talking about it for one more year and to keep analyzing it. [SPEAKER_05]: Oh, and look at that, look at that, the next in seven days here, and we get more teases. [SPEAKER_05]: So that's just me being cynical, but I'll leave that for what it is, maybe some other people out in the fanbase feel the same way.

1:06:56 [SPEAKER_05]: As of right now, where does it look like the series is going in terms of setting? [SPEAKER_08]: So I think it's good, if you're someone who has the luxury of having an opinion on this stuff, if you care about enough to do that, I'm one that has [SPEAKER_08]: Like my whole kind of speculation about what all the stuff means, what means all together, is mostly based on the idea that I haven't really bought it into the whole, like, oh, this game's going to take place hundreds of years later, blah, blah, blah, the problem is is that, you know, I feel like I have been able to put a lot of stuff together, and it makes sense.

1:07:40 [SPEAKER_08]: until I try to figure out how and drama the plays in because I've seen some people try to be like, oh, you know, those are in drama the references, this, that are the other. [SPEAKER_08]: Look, they very clearly referenced in drama the multiple times at this point. [SPEAKER_08]: You know, in the 2023 trailer or when they were releasing that trailer, the, I think it took five hours for them to release a 28 second trailer and I watched every minute.

1:08:05 [SPEAKER_08]: I was there every minute of it. [SPEAKER_08]: You know, it talks about like being drawn with a distress signal, of course, with a redacted date, because you know, why would they give us that that that would help too much. [SPEAKER_08]: And then you have that post through that came out with the bar scene that inexplicably has a death in an enguara in the same bar.

1:08:25 [SPEAKER_08]: you know, whatever that means. [SPEAKER_08]: So the problem is, and I acknowledge this with my own theory about what's going on or where they're going to try to set this game. [SPEAKER_08]: Everything I think we've been shown so far makes me feel like we're seeing trilogy era, technology, skycars, shuttles, ships, weapons, armor, all that, but they're clearly insinuating in drama that has something to do with this.

1:08:51 [SPEAKER_08]: So, you know, [SPEAKER_08]: I guess I can probably ramble about this forever, but I think for me, I've kind of gotten to the point where I think this game is likely, especially if this TV show is supposed to be a bridge. [SPEAKER_08]: If the TV show takes place relatively shortly after me, but what the shortly after me is it one year after the events of three or a hundred years.

1:09:13 [SPEAKER_08]: Because in the grand scale when you have creatures who can live for a thousand or two thousand years in this universe, 10 years is a blink. [SPEAKER_08]: A hundred years is to a point. [SPEAKER_08]: you know, without I guess we can get to more details we go on, but I still feel like this is giving us some indication that we're going to be in a game that maybe isn't the year after Mass Effect 3, but is, you know, within 50 or 100 years of it, but I just can't justify that with the and drama that stuff because short of going to wormholes or time travel or all of that stuff, [SPEAKER_05]: But like, what if Lyra is chasing that in seven agent through time, dude?

1:10:02 [SPEAKER_08]: Multiverse. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Genesis, where do you think that this series is going based off of what we just learned this past in seven day and considering that everything else from every in seven days apparently valid? [SPEAKER_06]: I think that they are going to find a way for even faster space travel, whether it is technology that is, you know, that they could have found from the cat or that the terraforming stuff that they did in indromeda, I think there is something that they are going to find in the indromeda galaxy that is going to make it so that way the arcs can return to the Milky Way galaxy.

1:10:48 [SPEAKER_06]: And with that, they are going to bring Engara with them to be like, okay, we came to your neck of the woods. [SPEAKER_06]: Now let me take you back home and you can see how how we live out here. [SPEAKER_06]: It could be like an Engara ambassador, something along those lines. [SPEAKER_06]: That's how I think that they're going to tie them together.

1:11:09 [SPEAKER_06]: I don't think that the next game is going to be set in the end drama to Galaxy. [SPEAKER_05]: be involving the Indromeda initiative or anyone we may in Indromeda. [SPEAKER_06]: Well, that again depends on the timeframe of when it's going to be because we do have to think about the fact that yes, those 500 years did pass, so maybe then somehow once they get the technology figured out there, they are just able to travel back at a much faster speed, so the next game could we set five to 600 years in the future in order to make it work.

1:11:53 [SPEAKER_05]: What does that mean for mass effect 3sending? [SPEAKER_05]: Because clearly like it really seems like it is a sequel to Mass Effect 3, possibly a prequel to indromeda, maybe even a sequel to indromeda. [SPEAKER_05]: But the fact that it is at least apparently a sequel to Mass Effect 3, [SPEAKER_05]: What does that mean for how they approach massfic presenting?

1:12:23 [SPEAKER_05]: I mean, what do you guys think? [SPEAKER_05]: Are they going to approach it? [SPEAKER_05]: Are they going to sidestep it? [SPEAKER_05]: Do you think that there's a way for them to kind of write themselves from the corner back out into a field? [SPEAKER_06]: I think that it's either going to be enough time has passed that the the way that we got rid of the reapers doesn't matter anymore because if we pick destroy they're gone if we picked.

1:12:54 [SPEAKER_06]: control, well, shepherd, reaper has taken them off and they're no longer a threat to the galaxy. [SPEAKER_06]: Stynthesis is the only one that makes it a little bit interesting because it changed all of our DNA. [SPEAKER_05]: Right, and people were apparently aware of that in the synthesis ending, like.

1:13:17 [SPEAKER_05]: you know, looking at their hand, I mean, like, whoa, I've got, like, green cybernetics dude. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, like, so people were aware of that. [SPEAKER_05]: So, yeah, I don't know how they can reconcile because those three endings are so different. [SPEAKER_05]: Um, do you think that they, it sounds like you think that they might just sidestep it.

1:13:38 [SPEAKER_06]: Maybe or they could make it such a the result of how the Reaper War ended could be a small enough thing that this is one of the things you pick any Genesis comic or in your save games being ported through. [SPEAKER_06]: Or if it was synthesis, okay, you see people with site with green everyone's in a while.

1:14:12 [SPEAKER_05]: Okay, yeah, Bon, what do you think about what this means or doesn't mean for if they're canonizing anything in one of the endings of Mass Effect 3? [SPEAKER_08]: So for me, my opinion on the ending has been interesting because as a newer fan, I wasn't here when that happened. [SPEAKER_08]: I wasn't here.

1:14:31 [SPEAKER_08]: I remember it. [SPEAKER_08]: I very specifically remember Mass Effect 3 coming [SPEAKER_08]: And I remember the conversation, I remember seeing people on Reddit and people on, you know, these places discussing it and hating it or loving it, whatever. [SPEAKER_08]: And, you know, as a new replayer, I guess I've just never, I've also only seen the good versions of them, I guess.

1:14:55 [SPEAKER_08]: And so I just never, [SPEAKER_08]: got into that whole conversation. [SPEAKER_08]: And so what I have gone on and kind of my interpretation of what we've seen is in that 2020 trailer, we see the two dead reapers in the middle of that trailer. [SPEAKER_08]: Lyra is walking up one, and then there's another dead one in the background.

1:15:14 [SPEAKER_08]: I've basically used that to convince myself that they're just canonizing the destroy just because it's the easiest thing they could do. [SPEAKER_08]: Trying to figure out how to deal with synthesis or control is just kind of messy for my personal take. [SPEAKER_08]: It's just, I would almost, I don't know, like it's easy to say, like, well, it's better to just pick one and move forward.

1:15:37 [SPEAKER_08]: But that's not for the people who prefer the other ones, and so I appreciate that. [SPEAKER_08]: I think the whole idea of the game just taking place so much longer after then it becomes kind of a non-point, maybe you start your game up at character creator, you pick the ending and prefer, and there's a few lines or maybe a few features that explains what happened.

1:16:00 [SPEAKER_08]: I guess it just depends. [SPEAKER_08]: If the game takes place shortly after three, [SPEAKER_08]: shortly by within 50 or 100 years, then they probably need to address it. [SPEAKER_08]: If it is going to take place 500, 600 years later, a thousand years later, whatever it's going to be, they probably have more leeway to just like kind of brush it off.

1:16:22 [SPEAKER_08]: I think if you will have asked me as three years ago or four years ago, right when I finished the trilogy, I probably would have been a lot more passionate about it and like, no, they have to do this or that at this point, I'm kind of willing just to take whatever they give us. [SPEAKER_05]: Sorry, should not meet myself.

1:16:40 [SPEAKER_05]: We were talking about how they could possibly canonize multiple endings and a thought just occurred to me. [SPEAKER_05]: Do you remember that in seven day, 2022, when they released that video of the presumably mass relay being built? [SPEAKER_05]: And then the message had to be quantum quote decoded and cleaned up.

1:17:04 [SPEAKER_05]: And then once it was, there was the audio of Lyra [SPEAKER_05]: in the background. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, if you don't remember that, here is a little bit of a refresher. [SPEAKER_05]: I'm going to bring it up now. [SPEAKER_04]: So, we heavily are talking to a GIF. [SPEAKER_05]: And saying, the council will be furious, you know, they should have known by now, not to underestimate human defiance.

1:17:41 [SPEAKER_05]: And then she says something kind of unintelligible afterward, but what's interesting is I hear the the death like, you know, squeaks, beeps, whatever you want to call it, an exchange and it sounds like she can understand to get and the death can understand her. [SPEAKER_08]: So I'll throw out that my theory since then has been that that's not a gift because a gift would be speaking to her in their universal translated language.

1:18:08 [SPEAKER_08]: At least from what we've seen in the previous games, I've always assumed that's just someone who's encrypted, that either Lyara knows we're listening to her. [SPEAKER_08]: No, I guess I have to take a step back to and that whole image, the relay, that's also when I did my stupid speculation of, it looks like we're looking at a monitor in that, [SPEAKER_08]: and it looks like there's like reflections and distortions in that picture, including in the bottom left, what looks like a white, red, white stripe reflection, and that's where I've speculated for a long time that we [SPEAKER_08]: we see the reflection of an in seven agent or an in seven person who's looking at that screen.

1:18:45 [SPEAKER_08]: So I've always assumed that that's just an encrypted person because I would think that if it was a guess we could hear them or maybe not. [SPEAKER_08]: I don't know because it does sound like they're clicks and beeps and beeps and beeps. [SPEAKER_08]: So like I get it, I get why people have interpreted it interpreted it that way as well.

1:19:00 [SPEAKER_08]: But I don't like I guess for me it just comes down to like are we supposed [SPEAKER_08]: And I kind of feel like maybe we're not supposed to. [SPEAKER_08]: Right, not this, you know, and whoever she's talking to, you know, to be fair at the time, they may not have even known who she was talking to.

1:19:20 [SPEAKER_08]: And their process of writing the story and thinking, Oh, I see. [SPEAKER_05]: You're saying that you think that she wasn't talking to someone in person, like literally face to face, but she was communicating like with extra net or secure comms somehow. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, and that footage is like a security camera.

1:19:38 [SPEAKER_08]: of like the alliance observing this thing happening and that maybe she's connected to it maybe they're trying to figure out what she's doing because again we have to remember you know she is you know the the the shadow broker like she she isn't necessarily she's friendly with Shepard and she was working with the alliance through him but you know maybe if Shepard's not a [SPEAKER_08]: of interest in this next game or whatever's happening, who's the same she would work with the Alliance, maybe she'd be working with other forces.

1:20:07 [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, that's a great point. [SPEAKER_05]: For me, I think it would be a little bit too misleading if it wasn't a death, because it sounds just like the death speaking, right? [SPEAKER_05]: I guess I wouldn't expect them to be that deliberately misleading, but that kind of leads me to my next point.

1:20:26 [SPEAKER_05]: which is Gamble's caveat, they're at the end of that blog post, about they're being no hidden meanings in his blog post. [SPEAKER_05]: Obviously, that was fake. [SPEAKER_05]: Like, you know, the italicized letters led to the Krogan URL led to that artwork. [SPEAKER_05]: So they're very clearly was a hidden meaning, he knew that, he knew that we knew that, but he still put in there at the end.

1:20:47 [SPEAKER_05]: There's absolutely no hidden meaning at all. [SPEAKER_05]: If Lyra is actually talking to someone else and it was basically encrypted to make it sound like binary, that is another instance in another in seven day of unreliable narration. [SPEAKER_05]: So I feel like Mike Gamble might be trying to tell us that unreliable narration is going to be a large part of the next Mass Effect game.

1:21:19 [SPEAKER_05]: And it would kind of go along the visual themes of the clandestine in seven agent. [SPEAKER_05]: What do you guys think about that? [SPEAKER_06]: Well, okay, so if maybe if it's not a guess, what's the other race that we never meet? [SPEAKER_06]: It's the virtual aliens or the [SPEAKER_08]: to them the rallyway.

1:21:39 [SPEAKER_06]: There was a few that I think are in the war, but you know, not the rally, they are humanoid-esque. [SPEAKER_06]: And so I think that if it was squawks, birds squawks, then I would think it was them for sure. [SPEAKER_06]: But there's a virtual race that wasn't the gap that the that Lyra could be communicating.

1:22:00 [SPEAKER_08]: They were naming them because I know the IS law is the peripheral aliens. [SPEAKER_05]: I am muted. [SPEAKER_05]: So, um, virtual aliens, I think you're absolutely, uh, onto something there that it could be another synthetic race that also might talk in binary. [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, we don't know, right?

1:22:22 [SPEAKER_05]: Uh, so, I still think though that this in seven day by itself, [SPEAKER_05]: him going out of his way to say that there is no hidden meaning in his blog post. [SPEAKER_05]: When clearly he knows that we know that there's a hidden meaning in there, I really feel like that is not just him having fun, but it might be somatically appropriate to the next game.

1:22:54 [SPEAKER_06]: I think he knows that we know that he loves to play his little games, and so he's just saying, ha, ha, there is nothing hidden here, and we all know that that's walls. [SPEAKER_05]: Okay. [SPEAKER_05]: If it's him just playing his little games, he's being a little shit. [SPEAKER_05]: I think he knows that.

1:23:12 [SPEAKER_05]: I'm not afraid to say that. [SPEAKER_05]: So okay, so what do we still not know about the next game and its story that each of you really want to know? [SPEAKER_06]: What year is it? [SPEAKER_05]: That's the biggest thing. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, honestly because we can to do so much from that.

1:23:35 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I agree. [SPEAKER_08]: I mean, it's easy to say like, I think because I'm a newer fan, I'm still one of the people who's like kind of like, and I feel like I've gotten away from this because I just don't think it's possible. [SPEAKER_08]: I'm definitely one who would love to play a shepherd again.

1:23:48 [SPEAKER_08]: I'm one of those people who's still fresh. [SPEAKER_08]: I haven't been playing this game for a decade. [SPEAKER_08]: I think that has all been written off at this point. [SPEAKER_08]: So I'm past that at this point. [SPEAKER_08]: I think the time frame that it's taking place in, it's like you said, it's the single thing, it changes everything.

1:24:11 [SPEAKER_08]: If it takes place five years after Mass Effect three, huge implications there makes the drama the stuff really interesting how they're going to handle that. [SPEAKER_08]: If it takes place 600 years, 1200 years later, when there's more possibilities of what happened within drama done, enough time for someone to go there and come back, then that makes things easier to explain or at least from what we currently know.

1:24:34 [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I think the time frame is it's hard to say anything else. [SPEAKER_05]: Gotcha. [SPEAKER_05]: I think for me, if it wasn't going to be the year, I want to know, [SPEAKER_05]: some basic background about the protagonist and the antagonist. [SPEAKER_05]: if it's not the year is definitely number one for me.

1:25:00 [SPEAKER_05]: Even like a date range of a couple hundred years, like I would be ecstatic about, right? [SPEAKER_05]: So I think that's the greatest detail that we still don't have confirmed. [SPEAKER_05]: Of course, we also don't have any of the other characters, like any characters at all, confirmed.

1:25:18 [SPEAKER_05]: I think it's pretty safe to say that Crogon and Geth are going to be in the next Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_05]: pretty safe to say that a sorry, or at least they are, and humanity will be in the next mass effect. [SPEAKER_05]: Other than that, we just really don't have a lot of confirmed details, I think.

1:25:39 [SPEAKER_05]: And, you know, a little bit mechanically speaking, that it's being developed in Unreal Engine 5. [SPEAKER_05]: So we know that as well. [SPEAKER_05]: So we're still waiting on a lot of new details, but it sounds like we might actually get a lot of those answers from the TV show. [SPEAKER_05]: So who knows, I'm really looking forward to that TV show.

1:26:03 [SPEAKER_05]: Maybe even that Krogan Civil War will be tied into it and who knows. [SPEAKER_05]: But we are running on an hour and a half right now. [SPEAKER_05]: And so, no, do not apologize. [SPEAKER_05]: I should apologize to you for taking so much your time. [SPEAKER_05]: So I do want to wrap it up here, Genesis.

1:26:20 [SPEAKER_05]: Any final thoughts on this past in seven day and what the years ahead look like? [SPEAKER_06]: I was pleasantly surprised by the level of vague details that we did get I was happy with what you know because there was a lot of fear I didn't want to voice the fear I don't want to put those things out into the universe but the fact that a lot of my feet fears were put to rest right out the gate and then we found out some really fun and interesting news.

1:26:52 [SPEAKER_06]: I am a little bit revitalized and happy and excited again for what the future is holding for Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_06]: TV show is going to be amazing. [SPEAKER_06]: And then the next game is going to be freaking awesome. [SPEAKER_05]: All right, yeah. [SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I feel like in terms of definitive details, it actually was a pretty good and seven day.

1:27:12 [SPEAKER_05]: We just didn't get some intense media, you know, like a video or a photo. [SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously I would always take more. [SPEAKER_08]: You know, if they wanted to show us a thousand things that would have been great, I think it ended up being a really constructive one for them.

1:27:31 [SPEAKER_08]: If their goal is to keep people engaged, to keep people interested, I think they did a pretty good job. [SPEAKER_08]: I think the thing to remember is that as they likely move in the full production and things start moving along, we probably don't have to wait until in seven day every year from now on to get something.

1:27:48 [SPEAKER_08]: I would say with almost certainty that between now and next to in seven day, there will at least be a blog announcing full production more than likely. [SPEAKER_08]: And if you go back and look at VailGuard, once they announce full production, they put out blogs. [SPEAKER_08]: pretty often, more than you may remember, that talking about how they were designing the game and the story and the mechanics and all that, they got pretty active and you didn't have to wait for Dragon Age Day every year for some kind of update.

1:28:14 [SPEAKER_08]: So if I maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I wouldn't be surprised that this was the last time we have to wait a whole year to get some kind of official word. [SPEAKER_08]: So that makes me excited. [SPEAKER_08]: So this is a show, obviously, and I'm hoping that it all works out. [SPEAKER_05]: Well, I will take your your work for that because like I said, you are a lot more keen on the industry side of of the news and things.

1:28:41 [SPEAKER_05]: If we can get some kind of full announcement or announcement about full development, I will click my heels. [SPEAKER_05]: But so far, I've just been very pleased. [SPEAKER_05]: So. [SPEAKER_05]: Anyway, that about wraps it up for today. [SPEAKER_05]: Specters, bond, thank you so much for setting aside so much of your time because you're like three hours ahead of us and we already recorded in the evening.

1:29:03 [SPEAKER_05]: So it's like really late for you. [SPEAKER_05]: But I want to I do want to give you some time here at the end to talk about what you're doing on the Mass Effect typecast and what's coming up. [SPEAKER_08]: So I have a podcast called the Mass Effect Hidecast. [SPEAKER_08]: I swear after I got all the branding done, I realized the closeness.

1:29:21 [SPEAKER_08]: It was non-purpose. [SPEAKER_08]: It just sounded good. [SPEAKER_08]: So I do that. [SPEAKER_08]: It's 13 episodes in. [SPEAKER_08]: Whenever there's something to talk about, I talk about Mass Effect. [SPEAKER_08]: It's normally about the next game, about updates, what things are going on with it.

1:29:34 [SPEAKER_08]: I do have another podcast called The Bonfire, which is a weekly gaming news podcast. [SPEAKER_08]: It's more general, 360 something episode at this point. [SPEAKER_08]: I have a YouTube channel as well, which is just Bon Diesel, right, post all those things, and just regular videos, and all my socials are under Bon Diesel as well.

1:29:51 [SPEAKER_05]: All right, awesome. [SPEAKER_05]: Go, give, bond, a follow, listen on Spotify or her, however you listen and hey, if you're curious about it, you can go back in time and listen to in seven legends, bitterness and previous echo cast episodes about in seven days. [SPEAKER_05]: Genesis, tell me what you got on your agenda for two girls, one ship and cyberpunk.

1:30:15 [SPEAKER_05]: I know you guys just wrapped up a huge episode for the two girls show. [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, yes, on the two girls, one ship podcast, we just had our four year anniversary episode where we talked about Leara to Sony again, because that is the first episode that we put out on N seven day four years ago, and we're following that up by talking about Joker and ED.

1:30:41 [SPEAKER_06]: their relationship between Mass Effect 2 and 3 as just kind of a fun little side quest before we start tackling our next our next game. [SPEAKER_06]: And then on Cyberpunk we are deep and actually we're switching topics. [SPEAKER_06]: We just wrap up corporations that exist only in outer space.

1:31:04 [SPEAKER_06]: And I think [SPEAKER_06]: and figuring out where we're going to go to. [SPEAKER_06]: So yeah, two girls, one ship and the cyberpunk floor cast. [SPEAKER_05]: All right, go take a listen to both of those shows. [SPEAKER_05]: And for me, I am streaming much more consistently than I have been in the past.

1:31:25 [SPEAKER_05]: I've been loving Moroind. [SPEAKER_05]: I've been mainlining that, like an addictive, [SPEAKER_05]: scuma vile that it is and getting into all the weird lore of more wind and playing it multiplayer, but I'm also streaming a number of other games. [SPEAKER_05]: I started a new playthrough of Mass Effect trilogy that I promise I will romance tally, but I am a Mass Effect one right now.

1:31:50 [SPEAKER_05]: And I'm thinking of maybe starting a new single player game on stream, we'll see. [SPEAKER_05]: But if you ever want to catch me live, if you want to see my face, you can go follow me in seven legend on Twitch. [SPEAKER_05]: And of course, you could see us here on the Lordcast YouTube or the Lordcast Twitch.

1:32:10 [SPEAKER_05]: Until next time, Spectres, that is it, and we should go. [SPEAKER_05]: Thanks for listening to the Mass Effect War text. [SPEAKER_05]: Reach out to us on Blue Sky, Twitter, Discord, Patreon, or email us at Mass Effect Warcast at gmail.com. [SPEAKER_06]: Join us next week for more lore, same space, same time.

1:32:42 [SPEAKER_06]: Or check out our live streams at twitch.tv-mass Effect4cast.