Posts Tagged ‘Shepard’
Shepard Will Be In Mass Effect 3
Video games are in some ways are starting to resemble the auto industry. We’re hearing more and more details about future titles in a series that hasn’t even released a sequel yet. Eventually developers will leak details of sequels to games that have yet to hit the shelves. Regardless of how early this news is, it’s still interesting to hear. In the first trailers for Mass Effect 2 we saw little more than a robotic geth wearing the protagonists armor, leading many to assume that he’d died in the ambiguous ending of the original.
Later though it was revealed that he had survived and would be present for at least some of the sequel. Now BioWare’s Casey Hudson, the executive producer on the title has revealed that not only has Shepard survived to the sequel, he may even make it to the final chapter of the trilogy. I say ‘may’ however not out of any ambiguity on the part of the developer- the choice rests on the player. Mass Effect 2 will have certain events or differences based on choices you made in the original (assuming you played it and still have your save file). As you’ve probably heard, depending on your actions characters can die in this game. Hopefully it won’t simply be due to the rigors of everyday combat, because in the original I generally found myself the only one standing at the end of nearly every encounter. Not only can your teammates die, but Shepard himself can be offed.
Of course if you fail to keep him alive, he’ll be replaced by a stand-in character in Mass Effect 3 so as to not force the developers to create two different plotlines, but if you play your cards right the hero can survive the supposed suicide mission he embarks on in #2 and head out for another attempt at defeating overwhelming odds.
New Mass Effect 2 Details
So far there haven’t been many concrete details about what’s happening for the Mass Effect sequel. Promises of revamped gameplay and a stirring storyline are far from actual news about what we’ll be seeing and whether or not Shepard survived the events of the original. Though all the biggest game announcements are waiting for E3, Bioware is drumming up attendees for their booth and general buzz about the game.
Despite the many RPG stylings of the original it remained quite heavily combat focused and the developers are promising a lot more content in this area. There’ll be more variety of weapons, including some heavier weapons systems and the ability to hinder your opponents by blowing off limbs. There’ll also be a new vehicle which they say controls better than the Mako.
There will of course be even more planets, locations and alien species to further flesh out the already detailed universe. Players will travel to a Krogan planet, an Asari planet which is compared to Coruscant from the Star Wars series and even an ‘anti-citadel’. Apparently you will play as Shepard, though it isn’t specified for how long. There’ll be familiar faces, places and items although depending on your choices major supporting characters can and will die.
The story still involves Shepard’s quest to destroy the Reapers, but additional events will involve the Cerebus corporation and its enigmatic leader. Bioware will reveal several things at E3, including the fate of Shepard, how the new travel/exploration systems will work and who you ultimately play is, meaning that even if Shepard is alive he’s not going to be your main character.
Mass Effect 2 Protagonist In Question
Some series keep the same hero, or groups of heroes for game after game while others adhere more to a structural framework in terms of style and game play, creating new characters or even new worlds every time. With the rich, complicated universe that underlies Bioware’s scifi RPG Mass Effect everyone knew that a sequel would be at the very least set in the same universe, although specific characters and chronology could have changed majorly.
With the first trailer Bioware answered a few questions, but raised even more. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet it mentions Shepard, giving some of the details from the first game including a list of deeds you’d have accomplished playing through the game as well as his ‘known alien accomplices’, the non-human party members from the first game. It goes on to say that Shepard is listed as ‘KIA’ (killed in action) and as the trailer pans out you see that an armored suit bearing Shepard’s N7 special ops designation is being worn by a Geth, both details throwing the survival of Shepard into question.
Although it’s only an early trailer it’s impossible really to doubt that Bioware plans to feature Shepard in some way. After all they wouldn’t make a trailer that mentions nothing other than the original protagonist without reason. This trailer sparked a whole lot of talk as you might imagine, and BioWare has responded in some small part: Bioware community managers mentioned several times on their forum to keep your save files from the original. It’s impossible to say what direction their taking this, but there are many possible guesses. Perhaps your character will be sent in to rescue him (I apologize to anyone who played the game with a female Shepard), or discover him accidentally in the course of their own adventure. Even more worrisome is the possibility that Shepard will be the villain.