Mass Effect 2 will be a "richer" experience

By Robert Purchese Published 12 March, 2008

BioWare wants meaningful side-quests.

BioWare boss Greg Zeschuk has said Mass Effect 2 will be a richer game than the original, promising to tie side-quests into the main story to make them more meaningful.

Having already created the technology to build a further two instalments, Zeschuk can focus on the content within them. He hopes to take a big step up in terms of quality, just as there was between Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II.

"We look at Mass Effect 2 as incredibly exciting. Just the amount of effort and knowledge and know-how that went into building the technology for the first one is huge, and [we now have] the chance to actually make things a little bit richer," Zeschuk told MTV Multiplayer.

"I think with Mass we just wanted to say, 'Let's make a whole bunch of planets for people to explore.' They all encapsulated, amongst themselves, some fun stories to do. Some kind of spanned among each other. But [now] we're taking it to that next level of tying them into the central story as well."

Mass Effect presented you with a whole galaxy of planets to fly to and explore, and rewarded you with extra experience, money, and equipment for doing so. Other than that, there was no real tangible reason to venture off the main story path.

Another way Zeschuk plans to make this more exciting and less repetitive is via "better technical ways; smarter ways to auto-generate content".

Despite all this, Mass Effect was released on Xbox 360 last year and made the top 10 in both yours and our picks of 2007.

BioWare has since announced a PC port of the role-playing game, which will be out in the US in May. EA has yet to date it for Europe.

Pop over to our Mass Effect Xbox 360 review to find out more.

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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • LeD #1 4 years ago

    Good stuff. I loved ME, but didn't bother with the side-quests on first playthrough. The few ones that I did do were a bit on the crap side.

  • hjarg #2 4 years ago

    Nah, Citadel sidequests were actually ok, some of them pretty well done.

    The random roving of planets with Mako, searching for minerals and anomalies got a tad boring. The planetary sidequests were pretty similar as well- go into a building that looks just identical to the building next next planet, shoot whomever is inside and you're done. More variety with planets, please.

  • Dizzy #3 4 years ago

    As expected. The generated content was a quick fix in the original game. I am sure they can expand in a big way on this. The side quest planets were a bit bare to say the least (some sidequest were quite good though). They will probably have the coding team on this part of the game now since the main engine is done and won't really change.

    It is quite clear in what direction Bioware is taking their RPGs and these semi generated sidequests will be a big thing in next installments of their games.
    Edited by 2 at 12/03/08 @ 09:40

  • asphaltcowboy #4 4 years ago

    Sounds awesome! Did most of the side missions the first time round and they weren't that interesting. Still, the main game was absolutely superb!

  • bad09 #5 4 years ago

    "The random roving of planets with Mako, searching for minerals and anomalies got a tad boring. The planetary sidequests were pretty similar as well- go into a building that looks just identical to the building next next planet, shoot whomever is inside and you're done. More variety with planets, please."

    I agree, I love ME and it is an excellent game overall but constantly walking around the exact same buildings or doing the same mineral hunts on the planets did get tiresome!

  • Wickerman #6 4 years ago

    Talk of auto-generated content makes me die a little inside - if you don't have enough fresh content to spread over 'x' number of planets, just have fewer yet ultimately richer and more enjoyable planets surely. Else you risk falling into the same trap as any number of space sim games that proudly state 'we have hundreds of systems, and thousands of planets' - most of which are full of space dust and a few roving pirate patrols...

    That said, the thought of more ME still makes me a little moist in all the right places!

  • Ceatlan #7 4 years ago

    Loved the first one. Did most of the quests on the Citadel, because as someone else mentioned they were quite fun, however I think I only did 2 of the other planet quests as they seemed tedious in the extreme.

    If they can keep the main story as engrossing, improve on the sub-quests and fix the few technical issues that plagued the first one, then that makes ME2 at the top of my most wanted list.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #8 4 years ago

    Aside from the ones that fleshed out your crew's backstory, the side-missions in ME were pretty weak. Glad to hear they're focusing on improving this for the sequel.

  • Dizzy #9 4 years ago

    "Talk of auto-generated content makes me die a little inside "

    True... but devs are working on that issue ;) Expect to see more auto content that behaves and looks a lot more hand-crafted next few years.

  • Paleface #10 4 years ago

    The side-quests, to be fair to them, were very variable. The "visit a planet, raid a building" thing wasn't so hot, but there were some interesting arcs that emerge out of it - following up on ExoGeni, for instance, once you've done Faros, or the various hostage-situations. Anything that could be resolved through dialogue tended to add some richness to the universe - but because you usually had to be quite pumped on Charm/Intimidate to avoid the inevitable barrage of gunfire, I'm not sure how many people saw those outcomes.

    The focus on "more story, more meaningful story" is definitely good, though.

  • Spanky #11 4 years ago

    How about fixing the engine while they're at it, i've never seen such a bare game tear itself to pieces in the way it did.

  • hjarg #12 4 years ago

    The ones with any dialogue added were few. Unfortunately. Even with charm/intimidate. Most of the times, you just shot things.

    From planetary sidequest, i liked the one with admiral Kohouku (?), lost marines and Cerebrus experiments or whatnot. Some planets to explore, strange stuff to kill, actually even nice storyline. But it ended with shooting random people in a random building and that's it. If they had built up the ending as well, add some story to it, it would have been great. Now, it just ended empty..

  • Thalanos #13 4 years ago

    Excellent news. Mr. Zeschuk, you just said all the right things.

    The Mako-based side quests really dragged down the ME experience for me, especially when contrasted with the pace and depth of the main quest line. Knowing that Bioware thought the same thing and are improving it is exactly what I needed to hear.

  • StormRider #14 4 years ago

    More interaction with NPCs would be good for ME2. For a galaxy populated with different species, there just aren't enough of people and aliens to talk to.
    Have more variety of vehicles to control. Have an alternative to the Mako, something that flies. Or if that's not possible, then maybe add some Mako versus alien vehicle fights. That would be cool rather than just roving around.
    Get rid of the 150 item limit. It is not fun to pick up some decent equipment only to find out that you can't keep them. Either give us the chance to throw away old stuff on the spot or give us a higher item limit.
    Give us a faster run option. The current one is a joke.
    Dialogue options should have different outcomes. Some are pretty much the same in the game.
    Paragon and Renegade arcs doesn't affect the game much. No one pays much attention if you're a goody two shoes or an evil bastard. This needs a bit tweaking for the sequels.
    Finally, please, pretty please make the elevators run faster.

  • miiiguel #15 4 years ago

    Did all the side-quests, twice (so far). Enjoyed them all, only the fact that the buildings looked exactly the same, slightly annoyed me.
    Most of the quests pay homage to cult movies, and that was very cool.

    The worst thing of the game must be the inventory system, halfway through I couldn't be bothered checking out what new stuff I just found. It was awfully designed.

    "Get rid of the 150 item limit. It is not fun to pick up some decent equipment only to find out that you can't keep them. Either give us the chance to throw away old stuff on the spot or give us a higher item limit."
    You can convert items to omni-gel.
    Edited by 2 at 12/03/08 @ 11:49

  • hjarg #16 4 years ago

    Oh, they cared enough.

    When i was a goody-goody Spectre and let the rachi queen live, the Council accused me of being a total moron to set that thing free to the galaxy
    When i was an evil bastard and gave the queen an acid bath, the Council accused me of being a genocidal prick.

    Seems like you can't make some aliens happy :D

  • Kiigan #17 4 years ago

    Here's hoping they fix the horrendous inventory / equipment screen too.

  • Freek #18 4 years ago

    "I think with Mass we just wanted to say, 'Let's make a whole bunch of planets for people to explore.' They all encapsulated, amongst themselves, some fun stories to do. Some kind of spanned among each other. But [now] we're taking it to that next level of tying them into the central story as well."

    Wich is what you already prommised for ME1.

  • WiseNail #19 4 years ago

    How about some quests which link back into ME1 in a detailed way, just to screw over PS3 owners if EA make the second multi format.

    Only kidding :)

  • hiddenranbir #20 4 years ago



    Come on now, this is Bioware; They like to lie.

    Either way, I hope ME2 is a richer experience. Plus I hope they aren't total dicks and use the 360's hard drive. Running everything off a cd? Silly, loud and annoying.

  • SHABBAWOTT #21 4 years ago

    a solid frame rate will do thanks

  • Benno #22 4 years ago

    yeah it needs engine upgrades first, then richer side quests seconds

    i might take frame rates and slowdowns too seriously, but it ruined the game for me

  • miiiguel #23 4 years ago

    "How about some quests which link back into ME1 in a detailed way, just to screw over PS3 owners if EA make the second multi format."
    I think MS owns ME's IP. Not sure, but Mass Effect: Revelations, says "Mass Effect; Xbox; Xbox 360 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the US and other countries"

  • evild_edd #24 4 years ago

    One word: when?

    Despite the fact I'm enjoying my second playthrough of the original, have the new-content expansion downloaded, and have 3 title unopened on my shelf (including Assassin's Creed), I still WANT THIS SEQUEL NOW!!!

    ME was my GotY 2008. It wasn't perfect, it probably wasn't the 'best' game of 2008, but it was certainly my favouite :D

  • Sorb #25 4 years ago

    I agree with:

    * Get rid of the boring Mako
    * Fix the inventory limit and managing
    * Fix the texture pop-in
    * Get rid of the identical buildings