Mass Effect 3 to finish story arc?

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 December, 2009

Plus: romances reflected in ME2.

BioWare has hinted that the current Mass Effect story arc will conclude at the end of the third game.

"We're looking forward to it and it should be more fun for us," project director Casey Hudson told Shacknews. "Mass Effect 3 will be easier because we don't have to worry about continuity into the next one."

While BioWare has always said that Mass Effect was envisioned as a trilogy, the developer has rarely spoken about how the series will end.

However, with decisions in the first game set to play a key part in the second, the news that BioWare is not thinking about how your choices impact the story beyond the third instalment may be telling.

In the meantime, there's still lots of excitement about how your choices in the first game will play out, and BioWare's Dr Ray Muzyka heaped on more suspense late last week when he told G4TV that your romantic relationship "could be reflected in Mass Effect 2".

"We're not going to say which ones, or if all, or some of them," he teased, following last week's explanation of how the game would work without an existing save.

We're currently polishing up our Mass Effect saves (my beloved Superevil Shepard blackmailed a diplomatic and killed a slave girl last night - get in) ahead of the sequel's PC and Xbox 360 launch on 29th January.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • duckncover #1 2 years ago

    "the developer has rarely spoken about how the series will end" - Would you rather they gave you the script so you wouldn't need to play?

  • M4RV #2 2 years ago

    ^ ^ ^ ^

    Why so serious dude...?!?!

    - - - -

    Either way, still wondering how the saves will work on the PC version. Can anyone enlighten me on that please...?! Much appreciated.

  • Dr.Mott #3 2 years ago

    I'll be using my good guy save. The ending just felt right on that, plus I felt ridiculously guilty on my bad guy save all the way through.

  • Wolverfrog #4 2 years ago

    Uh...they've called it a trilogy from day one. That implies there will only be three games. Then again...

    *Looks at Halo franchise*

    Point taken.

  • davisorle #5 2 years ago

    @M4RV

    I dont expect it to be any complicated so either the game will be giving you the option i.e. New game -> Continue from own save some short of naming next and it will automatically look in the default directory for the save games and let you choose if changed etc.

    @Dr.Mott
    I have tried and found out that I cant be the bad guy in games ever since Fable 1.. lol I just cant fucking do that.

    Ill feel so sad when the trilogy is over. I wonder what will Bioware do for us next. I cant think of RPGs without Bioware hype around!

  • M4RV #6 2 years ago

    @davisorle:

    That's what I'm basically expecting, but having in mind they failed to adress the issue thus far and I just recently purchased and started playing"Mass Effect" on the PC, despite having it played already on the 360, I just would like to make sure my saves will carry over.

  • anomagnus #7 2 years ago

    who else is replaying now, making their perfect character for ME2?

    I've always played it as a paragon, but i've gone to the darkside now baby, and by god its fun!

  • menage #8 2 years ago

    anomagnus:

    I just started it up again yesterday. Damn game still impresses me in every way.

  • M4RV #9 2 years ago

    ^ ^ ^ ^

    Indeed. Playing as a renegade is truly awesome IMHO, due to the awesome one-liners and that epic and, if you're willing, quite ambiguous(?!) dialogue at the end.

  • hiddenranbir #10 2 years ago

    I don't remember any slave girls in ME...

    Unless you're talking about consorts?

  • eizyark #11 2 years ago

    @M4RV

    have you played baldur's gate or neverwinter nights? if you have then you would know how the save works.
    if bioware is planning it exactly like how they did it with Neverwinter Nights, then basically, when you start the game, it will give you the option to start a new character or continue with an old character that you made. if you noticed when you have multiple characters in ME, when you try to load, you can choose which character. it will be the same in ME2 when starting the game, you can choose which character to continue with.

    i don't know if i explained it properly, but there yah go :)

    Best Regards.

  • YourMessageHere #12 2 years ago

    I started out determined to be renegade, because I don't usually do that, but the renegade options just seem fundamentally stupid things to do. I ended up about evenly renegade and paragon - and for me, the end was pretty terrible. My ruthless Shepard worked for the good of a united government, and so I wanted to simply execute Udina as a traitor when he started his "humans must seize power!" shpiel, but nooooo, I get three dialogue options, none of which I actually wanted to say. Am I mistaking this? Is there some actual advantage or reason to be strongly renegade?

    I didn't bother with any romances - Ashley's too much of a racist bitch, Liana's too wet and Kaidan (my Shepard was female) too much of an all-round tool, and besides, I was waiting to get the option to climb into Tali's knickers, but was denied. At least she's back in the next game.

  • Tuffty #13 2 years ago

    Don't expect to get inbetween the sheets with Quarian, I think they wear their suits for a reason. Aren't they the ones who have to live in a very specific atmosphere otherwise their skin rips apart?

  • FiZiE #14 2 years ago

    @wolverfrog
    Um i think you're getting confused. Bungie said the Master Chief story arc would span 3 games and .... well it did .... so

  • hazelam #15 2 years ago

    i wouldn't be at all surprised to hear about a mass effect mmo after the trilogy has finished, assuming there are any people left in the mass effect galaxy.

  • coomber #16 2 years ago

    "While BioWare has always said that Mass Effect was envisioned as a trilogy, the developer has rarely spoken about how the series will end."

    With the third fucking episode, I would have thought.

  • Moribundman #17 2 years ago

    This is a stupid article, really. That "third ep will be easier because it will use the same levelling system and game mechanics as 2" quote has been floating around for ages now, Mass Effect has always been a trilogy, it's always been stated that decisions in 1 as well as 2 will have an impact on 3, just as things in 1 will shape 2. Also they've stated that while Shepard's story arc was always intended as 3 games, they might go elsewhere in the Mass Effect universe.

    Shall I rephrase that lot and post it as an article, suggesting all this is news?