Mass Effect 3 Interview

AusGamers managed to track down BioWare’s David Silverman during last month’s E3 for an informative Q&A about Mass Effect 3, including why the game was delayed, how the threequel’s Paragon/Renegade choices will be presented, how the game’s Kinect support will play out, and more. Excerpt time:

AusGamers: In terms of the structure of gameplay versus the RPG and story elements, there was a really good balance between action and talking and drama in the other games but this one seems like it’s going to be really over-the-top action. Can we expect more action this time around or still that nice balance that you guys have struck?

David: Really what we want to do with Mass Effect 3 is we want to have the perfect balance between kickass action and making choices that really matter and bringing you an immersive experience. So the demos that we’re showing here at E3 really revolve around three things. We showed… at the EA press conference the other day, we had our big set-piece action experience to show (this is the galactic war, things are going to happen on a big scale unlike ever before). Then the other demos we’re showing back here [behind closed doors], one of them is a combat demo that shows that there’s different ways to play.

So people that like to play more tactical, someone that wants to be calling out commands to their squad-mates. If you want to be stealth-like, you can use the cover system and some new mobility maneuvers. We have the omni-blade which lets you pull guys from cover and smack them down. And then there’s guys who like to play run and gun and the game can adapt to that.

So it’s really giving you the choices how you play the game then also how you lead. The final demo we have really talks more about the emotion and the storytelling. We have the next generation of digital acting that we’re doing in Mass Effect 3 and really conveying the sense of personal story as you see what’s unfolding; as The Reapers are attacking.

We’re also adding in these layers of RPG elements that people may have missed previously. Things like… we have this system called the weapon-bench, where you can take any of your weapons and put them on the bench there when you’re in The Normandy or on a mission and you’re basically allowed to make mods to any weapons. So if you like playing certain different mods, you can mod it in a way. Or if you’re a more up-close and personal guy, you mod it like that.If you want to do more sniping stuff through the scopes… So lots of really cool RPG features and what-not for the people that really dive and be very strategic.

AusGamers: Now one of the features that all the gamers love that have followed the series from the start is being able to carry your character across to the next iteration and I’m sure that’s going to happen here. One question I did have though was: The characters that you can collect in the DLC that came out for Mass Effect 2 — all of which were great. Will they become part of the overall story? Are they still hanging around?

David: We haven’t gone into specifics yet in terms of who the followers are and how they interact. But one thing that we’ve made a point since the very beginning is that it’s your immersive story in Mass Effect and we’re not going to cheat you out of that if you’ve been with us from the very beginning and played various pieces of content. You will see references that you can relate back to.

But if you didn’t play the game before; if you’ve never played Mass Effect; you don’t even know what Mass Effect is and you’re seeing this cool trailer and are like (wow, that game looks awesome) this is really a great point for you to dive right in. Start with the galactic war and then you can go back and see some of the back-story.