Here a few interesting tidbits from IGN’s interview with BioWare’s Casey Hudson:

The sequel will build on the triumphs of its predecessor while adding a new twist. All of those choices you made in the first game will shape the story in Mass Effect 2. For BioWare, a studio that has in large part built its role-playing reputation on the concept of forcing players to make difficult decisions, this creates a whole new way to think about what a trilogy of games really means. Casey Hudson, Project Director for Mass Effect 2, recently divulged some new details on how this will work, even offering a brief outline of the future leading in to Mass Effect 3.

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The game will be much more personal for those that did play Mass Effect. Everything all of the way down to little side quests will be shaped by your actions in the first game. "If you were mean to a guy in a little side quest," said Hudson, "then he’ll show up in this one and something different will happen. It’s not better or worse, it’s just part of the ongoing story."

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Yes, you read that correctly. Different plots, and different side quests, will become available or be blocked off depending on your actions in the first game. Hudson elaborated, "The quests are different and the things that happen in them are different, and that’s true of a lot of the plots. The things you have to do really only make sense if you made a certain choice previously or if certain characters are alive or dead."

During my chat with Casey Hudson, he spoke a lot about the love subplot that played out in Mass Effect 1 and will continue in the sequel. "People are worried that the love interest from the first game is not recruitable as a squad member in the second game. I think people put too much emphasis on whether importance to the story is equated to whether they are a squad member. In Mass Effect 2, it really is about preparing for a suicide mission. It’s true that people on your squad are most likely going to die in this final mission. It’s not all that hard to make your character survive, but you can die as a permanent death at the end. I think people will have trouble keeping everybody alive. That’s a lot trickier.

Read the whole interview at IGN.

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3. BioWare: There Will Be More Mass Effect After Trilogy Ends
4. Mass Effect 2 Sells Two Million copies in one week
5. Interview: BioWare’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk on Mass Effect 2 & 3

Tags: bioware, Interview, mass effect 2