For those of you who may not be among the most dedicated of Mass Effect fans, it may be difficult to think of anyone who didn’t love the critically-hailed Mass Effect 2. While the first in the series was an undeniable nod to BioWare‘s RPG roots, the follow-up was a far more refined shooter that many fans weren’t expecting. Still, the story of the series has kept gamers patiently waiting for the chance to finish the fight next year. With Mass Effect 3, the developers need to deliver a game that is satisfying both to long-time fans and first-timers, and if recent statements are anything to go on, the hardcore fan base may not be happy with the ‘balance’ the game has struck.
We won’t let anyone accuse us of being Mass Effect 3 skeptics, since we agreed with many that Mass Effect 2 was a spectacular game. Oh, and before its release date delay 2012, Mass Effect 3 was chosen as Game Rant’s most anticipated game of 2011. There’s no denying that the game was deserving of its triple-A status, and the developers have since come forward to acknowledge the various ways that typical RPG elements were removed completely. They’ve been promising that new customization will be on tap for ME3, so there’s no need for fans to lose faith.
With Mass Effect 3 carrying the momentum of two financial and critical successes, and set for a simultaneous release across the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, the potential for this game to eclipse the previous two is high. But with so many new players added to the mix, how can a development team make a compelling narrative that also carries more significance for players who’ve spent over 100 hours in the game world already?
In an interview with CVG, BioWare Marketing Head David Silverman explained that finding a balance wasn’t easy, but has been done before. While the Star Wars saga technically began halfway through the six-part story, audiences didn’t need the backstory to enjoy the climactic battles. With Mass Effect 3‘s plot being all about war, Silverman doesn’t think it will be a problem:
“What we’re trying to do with Mass Effect 3 is that it’s a new beginning for the series. It’s probably a natural entry point. Given the fact this is the beginning of an all-out war with this ancient alien race. We’ve been foreshadowing this war with this race that’s been dormant for 50,000 years. Well now they’ve finally woken up, launching their full scale invasion and trying to wipe out all life as we know it. It’s a natural point for people to jump in.
“To use that Star Wars analogy, when you started on episode IV, you didn’t realise you were missing anything, right? There was the Death Star, and there was the empire; they were attacking and Luke Skywalker was going in to take ‘em down… You didn’t need to know that there three movies before that setting up who Darth Vader and Anakin were. It’s kind of a similar thing. In ME3, you’re going to start the war and end the war in the same game. It’s pretty self-contained.”
From what we’ve seen of the game, players who are unfamiliar with the series are likely to be pulled in within the first minutes. Fans of ME1 and ME2 will enjoy seeing characters that they’ve had past experiences, and even romantic relationships with. While BioWare has promised that those past decision will have consequences, that doesn’t mean the drama and story can’t be entertaining all on its own.
But for those of you hardcore fans who were hoping that your Mass Effect 3 playthrough would be profoundly more meaningful than a newcomer, you may not want to hear Silverman’s position on the balance the team has found:
“We’ve really struck a great balance. Obviously, if you’ve played the game before you’ll see things that apply to you… And even if you’ve played the games multiple times before – Mass Effect came out almost eight years ago – you’re not going to remember all the details from when you played that game, right? Even I can’t recall everything that happened to me when that came out in 2007. It’s human nature. We’re not Rain Man…
“I think this is definitely the best chance we have in the series to really break out and go truly blockbuster. It really is a natural entry point for people: giant alien race launches all-out war, you have to rally the forces of the universe to counter and see if you can take them down. That’s pretty clear. You don’t need to be like: ‘Well, what about when I had this love affair?’ It’s like, who cares? It’s all out war!
“New people will get it, but existing fans will see the stakes being raised. It will still have levels of nuance – I don’t want to spoil anything – but you’re definitely going to be seeing things that you’ll be like: ‘Oh, I remember that!’
Since the established fan base doesn’t need any more reason to get hyped for the game’s launch, it’s players who have been somewhat intimidated by the size and scale of the series being targeted by statements like these. And for those who have been thinking of hopping in for Mass Effect 3, it’s good to know that the game will be just as satisfying.
That being said, these comments will likely be some of the worst things a hardcore, RPG-loving, emotionally-invested Mass Effect player could hear. Serious choices carrying lasting impact have become the trademark of the games, and most fans are already imagining how their past decision will change the face of the coming battle.
Even if Silverman is exaggerating, the idea of the highly-touted choices amounting to little more than after-the-fact nods and reminders isn’t going to go over well with those fans who are still longing for a deeper RPG. Everyone will have to reserve judgment until the game is released, and we hope that BioWare can bring the series to more fans than ever before. But hopefully not at the expense of those who helped get them here.
Do you put much weight into Silverman’s comments, or do you think that BioWare plans to make the game much more satisfying for those of you who have stuck with the series since the start? Feel free to leave us your own thoughts in the comments.
Mass Effect 3 will be making dedicated and new fans happy – hopefully – when it’s released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on March 6, 2012.
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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: CVG
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I’m pretty sure I won’t buy Mass Effect 3 immediately. Simply because I was immensely pissed about how dumbed down Mass Effect 2 was.
I might rent it, but I will wait with the DLC until a complete edition comes out.
-Weapon Mods will make a return. However, not all weapons support all mods.
-Interrupts are back, but with new “methods and technolodgy”.
-The import feature will be back with more variables than the one in Mass Effect 2 had.
-Shooting specific parts of the armour can have special effects while the AI will have your enemies routing Shepard
-Skill trees will be larger, powers will evolve more than once
-Weapon Mods will make a return
-You will be able to customize the colour and camo of your weapons. Squadmate weapons are also customozable
Oh yeah, guys. ME3 is TOTALLY dumbed down
Mass Effect 2 wasn’t bad but I was quite unhappy with the unrealistic, retcon-riddled story of ME2 and I still want my inventory back (admittedly the old one wasn’t great but taking it out completely was excessive).
I’ll definitely wait for some kind of complete edition before buying, NOT because I think ME3 will be bad but because I don’t want to reward Bioware and EA for screwing up ME2.
none of that is what im worried about. im worried that story and past choices will be dumbed down. i also hope every character returns in a big way. oh and lets not forget that ME is being turned into even more of a Gears of war-in Space- soap opera type thing.
btw that last comment was not meant to start a war im just disappointed in bioware. however i will purchase ME3 regardless
What drew me into Mass Effect was that is was a RPS. I love the RPG elements. I will be extremely disappointed if it changes from RPS to FPS/TPS…
Hey look a twitter post from Casey Hudson (THE EXCUTIVE PRODUCER. NOT A MARKETING SALES BOY BLABBERING ON LIKE A ARROGANT FAN BOY) related to this topic.
(CaseyDHudson)
The most expensive complication in #ME3 development is integrating your past decisions, so that will definitely be a big part of the game.
http://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson
Sounds to me that pass decisions will still matter. Not to mention That they already said that the pass decisions can and will have a different outcome on the ending. (I.E Wrex’s death in ME 1 and the out come of each loyalty missions in ME 2.) Bioware really need to have the dev team talk about the game not a marketing sales boy. Marketing sales boy never know what there saying or how to actualy make a pitch to any one with out sounding like an idiot and they only makes the rumors worse.
No unlimited ammo (I’m fine with the cool down requirement of the first one, but I don’t want to search for ammo) = No buy.
No MAKO/planet exploration = No buy.
You people piss me off I mean seriously all you guys complain about is the fact that people who didnt get the opportunity to play the first two games get to make some of the major choices you got to. Oh it doesnt have an RPG feel boohoo. First off you still got to tell your squadmates what to do and what to use. And there was still a skill tree if you wanted to call it just a shooter youre nuts. You did the same thing with DA2 oh Hawke has a voice, Oh the Combat gameplay is changed…..Boo hoo. If you dont like it dont play it and dont judge before the final product is here.
No, we’re complaining because it sounds like they’re thinking of chopping off a lot of the choices we DID make, or at least making them less relevant. I don’t care if new players play the game, and it’s great if there’s a comic book-ish feature that lets you make the past game choices if you’re too lazy/cheap/busy to go out and buy the previous games.
What I don’t like is when a game that was SUPPOSED to be about choices is scrapping those choices because some new people will “be intimidated” or some crap. I went out and bought the first two ME games, and they were amazing. I made the choices the way I wanted to make them, and I expect to see some damn ramifications.
This may not happen, and if it doesn’t, super. But if it does, to hell with you guys telling us fans of the series that taking the story out of an RPG is okay, and that we should let them.
New players are great, but not at the expense of long-term story.
They never said they were tossing them out.
No, but if they lessen them or throw them on the back-burner, it’ll be almost as bad. New players may not understand it (I’m not even really one to talk, I’ve only put 30-40 hours into the games, if that) but we spent time building our characters and our story the way we want it. So far this has been one of the most malleable RPGs to date, and I’d hate to see that get scrapped in favor of giving new players a less-than-ideal experience anyway.
Well said!…I’ve played ME1 then branched off 4 playthroughs of ME2 off that. Then played ME1 again with different choices and branched another 3 choices of ME2 off that. Now they’re saying all the time/effort is going to be dumbed down and more-or-less insignificant? You better not screw me Bioware!!!!
Ive put hundreds of hours into the Mass Effect Universe. Having characters of every class making various choices so I can see the differences. I am really into mass effect like no game ever before. I would be extremely disappointed if Bioware cut out or lessened the story so that my time was basically wasted because somebody who didn’t buy the first 2 games or ALL of the DLC like I did because I wanted a complete experience and to be a happy customer after ME3 came out. Im obviously going to buy the game and all the DLC anyways but I wish they rewarded players who really enjoy the product and are willing to put the time in to try and appreciate their work. I seriously have 200+ hours in mass effect and it would be a damn shame if bioware screwed my experience so a few newbs could jump to the end and feel like they were on my same level.
“Mass Effect came out almost eight years ago”
Nice maths.
2011 – 2007 = 8
Math, how does it work?
Oh wow, they really are this desperate.
What a great time to introduce new players. IT’S FINAL PART OF THE TRILOGY GUYS LET’S BREAK DOWN THE BASICS TO THE NEW GUYS. Then again I don’t think there are people idiotic enough to start with Mass Effect from the third game. I might be wrong though.
I think this is going to flop and they’ll blame it on 4chan and pirates again. It’s all they can do.
Plus, serves them right for hiring a yaoi fan fiction writer as one of the leading story writers.
/rant
c’mon guys lets remember whos really pulling the strings at Bioware, EA! Lets face facts if you wanna blame somebody for taking out the RPG elements blame EA. These corperate suits want to make as much money as possible which is why the game was deleyed so the could throw some multiplayer aspect in. EA doesnt care about the hardcore fans or the new people who would be totally lost starting with ME3. They only care about the bottom line. So yes true ME fans be angry but not at Bioware who sits helpless as their game is sliced and diced do to some execs decission. Aim it where it belongs soley on the evil shoulders of EA!
I don’t think the game is going to be a flop, especially based off of the sales alone it wont be.
I will be disappointed if they cut out the majority of the rpg elements that are left (even though I’m a FPS fan as well) and if they remove a good majority of the choices that we made (that’s one of the reasons why most people are returning and buying the third installment). In any case, I will reserve my judgment for when the game actually comes out.
That is the single worst marketing pitch I have ever heard ever. Of all time. He should be tarred and feathered in the town square for his stupidity. He has single-handedly alienated everyone who liked the previous games. And the statement isn’t true, Casey said that the game was a planned trilogy since the very beginning. There is no way that they are abandoning the story at this point.
Not unless EA has thier necks in a vicegrip, making sure the game is just good enough to print money, but any better because that would cost time, and time is money. Hopefully that isn’t the case and EA has faith in Bioware to make a game good enough to sell without cutting it short Halo 2-style. It would be such a shame if this game ended up being bad.
Hey Silverman. Go f@ck yourself.