Bioware has revealed that Mass Effect 3 will be shaped by over 1000 different story variations from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.
“We plan out the larger plot points of the story from one game to the next, but it would be impossible to plan it all in advance,” said ME2 project lead, Casey Hudson, during an interview with PC Zone magazine.
“More importantly, we’d never be able to plan as many creative opportunities if we’d do it all up front. Instead, we record what a player has done in a play-through, and then we have all of those choices available that writers can refer to as they build storylines”
“Numerically, it’s over 1,000 variables that we’ll have access to for shaping the Mass Effect 3 experience for people who’ve played the previous games.” he explained.
“If you define an RPG as a game where you equip your hero by sifting through an inventory of hundreds of miscellaneous items and spend hours fiddling with numerical statistics, then Mass Effect 2 isn’t one,” he added.
Despite this claim, Bioware will keep the same RPG elements in Mass Effect 3.
“In Mass Effect 2 we focused on what we love about RPGs: An awesome sense of exploration, intense combat, a deep and non-linear story that’s affected by your actions, and rich customisation of your armour, weapons and appearance” he said.
“We had an overwhelmingly positive response to this approach, and while we’ll make further adjustments to it for Mass Effect 3, we’re really happy with how it’s been received so far.”