28 replies to this topic

[Archmage Silver]

New update on the official site. And as mentioned before, you can find all the previous ME2 updates on the official site @ http://masseffect.bi...e.com/universe/.

09.12.12 | Posted by Nickmo

We have two awesome updates to the website today!

The first is our third installment in our class reveal featurettes. Christina Norman takes us through the Sentinel class and its unique hybrid of biotic and tech abilities. Check out the SENTINEL page now for an new trailer and screenshots!

The second update is to the Arsenal page, featuring the M-9 Tempest Sub-machine gun. Produced by Elanus Risk Control Services, the Tempest is a light weight and compact weapon that fires in long deadly bursts. Because of the rate of fire on the Tempest and its large clip capacity, it excels at dropping shields and biotic barriers. Check out the ARSENAL for more info on the Tempest

[Archmage Silver]

I just read the latest Casey Hudson interview and now I'm even more excited about next year! It's hard to believe ME2 is being released so soon after DA, but I'm certainly not complaining!

[Darziak]

There's a cinematic trailer out and the full length will be on xbox live at December 22nd.

I can't wait to get my hands on this game.

[Archmage Silver]

I downloaded that cinematic teaser as a higher quality version from Gamershell today (along with the enemies and engineer trailers) and I'm just saying, does this flood of good games mean we're going to have a drought after ME2?

[Archmage Silver]

Polygamia has posted an interview with BioWare's Adrien Cho who hints at the possibility of Day 1 DLC:

Some time ago you said that Mass Effect 2 will come on two DVDs. Will we have to swap them, or will the game just install from one and play from the other?

I don't know the specifics of how you can install one disc or the second disc, and this might be more of a Microsoft kind of question, but the game is huge. We realized that we can't put it on one disc so we put it on two discs. But we also figured out the most logical way to do it so it wouldn't be inconvenient to players.

Like a dramatic cut, and "to be continued, insert dics 2"?

No, it will be at logical chapter stops. We don't want people flipping back and forth, like every time they go to a planet. We try to keep those contained. The game is divided into chapters, but there is a free branching aspect as well, where you can go wherever you want.

Will you release any DLC linking the first and second game? It was two years, so some people might not remember everything.

I can't talk about the details yet, but there's definitely some DLC that will tie the two together.

And will we see it before the release of Mass Effect 2?

After, very soon after.

Will we have any day 1 DLC, like with Dragon Age?

Yes, we will have content available. We can't say yet what it is, though.

Will the DLC be more like Dragon Age? Will we hear a signal coming from outer space saying "If you want to help me, please buy some stuff from us"?

Again, the DLC plan hasn't been fully announced yet. But there is a lot more variety, from new weapons, new armor, new sidequests to big expansion packs. So there will be a wide variety of things. And we really want to reward fans of Mass Effect, so there will be a lot of bonus content provided in the form of DLC.

Will I be able to play new DLC if I finish the game? In Mass Effect 1, I had to come back to the previous save.

I can't comment on that. You asked lots of good questions that I can't talk about for now.

Will the loading be quicker in the retail version? It was quite long in the debug version.

There's actually a lot of loading that we don't see. But any time we're transitioning from a major area to another, we see some a bit longer loads. But it's still a developer build. We've shorted the time of disc loading in general.

You said that we'll get some bonuses if we transfer our character from Mass Effect 1. But our statistics won't be transferred, so what will the bonuses be?

The new skill tree doesn't match one to one with the old one. Basically, if you level up completely to level 60, we definitely want to give you a reward. There will be a kind of a tactical advantage. But beyond that, we can't say for now.

You said that Mass Effect 2 is the best game that BioWare ever did. What about Dragon Age? What did it lack?

Dragon Age was a very good game that took a long time to produce. The reason we thing that Mass Effect 2 is actually the best game that we've made is that our best games are always ahead of us, and we're able to take all that we've learned from one game and put it in the next title.

So of course when Mass Effect shipped, the developers of Dragon Age were able to see what we did well and what we did wrong and factor it in the development. When Dragon Age shipped, we were able to use that experience when working on Mass Effect 2.

The great thing about Mass Effect 2 is that we've tried to take the best stuff we've done and cut all the excessive stuff that we don't need. It is much more of a polished experience than Mass Effect 1. I'm sure that by the time Dragon Age 2 comes out, they will be able to take all that we've learned from the first one and make that game so much better.

You've heard the Polish localization. Do you like the Polish voices?

Before I came on this tour, I haven't actually seen or heard the localized versions. The quality of the performance is just as engaging as the English one. That's so great about modern storytelling. Sometimes you don't even have to understand the language, but if they communicate through the tonal changes of the voice, that's what a good voice actor comes in.

What did the inspiration for the Illusive Man come from?

For all those shadowy characters in thrillers, there is always someone behind the scenes who knows a lot, is a broker of intelligence, is a few steps ahead. Like in Blade Runner, in terms of chess, is able to anticipate his moves a few steps ahead.

Like the Cigarette Smoking Man from X-Files?

Yes. We definitely wanted to have a feel of Mad Men, some of it was inspired by Anderson Cooper, a CNN correspondent, and the personality was taken from all of these Hitchcock movies, from The X-Files. It's a mixture of all those different elements.

Dragon Age had this advertising campaign focused on sex and violence. Are you planning on something similar for Mass Effect 2? Any rockstar, any songs?

Dragon Age was a very different piece altogether. People are already familiar with the Mass Effect brand so the message is very different. I think some of the DLC, we have an incredible marketing campaign, and I think they'll be releasing something very exciting this week. Then you'll get a sense of the marketing campaign. Maybe less Marilyn Manson or whatever, but it will blow you away.

Mass Effect is a very cinematic game. Ubisoft has made the Assassin's Creed: Lineage film, are you thinking of making something similar, a short Mass Effect movie?

We're always exploring different media for expanding the Mass Effect universe. So far the games have focused on the story of Commander Shepard, but in other media, like comics or novels, it might be different. In terms of animated movies or something even bigger, we're always looking at the options. I'd definitely like to see that happening.

When you look at the work of other studios, is there anything that catches your interest, as a developer of Mass Effect?

We were actually inspired by some of the old 80s PC games. There were lots of good ideas there we were inspired by. As for current games, we looked a lot at first-person shooters. Not so much for RPG elements, but to help us tune and tweak the feel of Mass Effect. But there was nothing quite like it on the market. There is a shooter aspect to it, but also the RPG aspect and a fantastic science fiction setting. If you combine all of that together, you can see a bit from here and a bit from there, but as a whole it's something new. The biggest inspiration for Mass Effect 2 was actually Mass Effect 1. We tried to improve upon it in every way.

Mass Effect had a very Star Trek-like feel. Will Mass Effect 2 continue this, or will it have more of a Star Wars: Episode II feel?

It's interesting you make that Star Trek connection. At least for the planet side quests, we wanted them to feel like Star Trek away team missions. You explore the planet, go down, sometimes you meet interesting cultures and species, sometimes you just blow stuff up. So in a way there are some aspects to it that are similar to Star Trek. I think thematically too, there is a lot of interesting things that the original Star Trek did when it was airing back in the 60s, the idea of having a multicultural society.

Does Mass Effect 2 have a similar vibe or are you adding more darker stuff?

You don't really lose that, but I'd say it's a deeper experience. And there are elements that remind me of Blade Runner or Aliens. The experience is richer, I guess. You don't lose the away team missions from Star Trek, but everything on top of it is so different, just like the new Star Trek movie is different, but the core idea is the same.

When looking at the new build of Mass Effect 2, I managed to see a message "Log in to Cerberus Network", press Y. What is Cerberus Network?

Can't talk about it, sorry.

The social.bioware.com site is linked with Dragon Age. Will we see similar social networking features in ME2?

Can't talk about this either, I'm sorry.

When will we learn more about Cerberus Network and the whole social network integration? This year, next year?

Hopefully soon.

Will we get any Xbox Dashboard avatar awards for playing Mass Effect 2? Like a costume, a helmet, Normandy?

Again, I can't talk about that, but I can say that we plan to support a lot of the online stuff. Whatever we had in Mass Effect 1 in terms of this kind of integration, we are definitely going to support in the second game.

There is one more thing I have to ask you. Jay Watamaniuk said during PGA that Mass Effect 2 is coming out for the 360, PC and probably PS3. So, how probable is it?

Well, we've spent the past 2 years working just on the 360 and PC versions.

But if BioWare and EA want to release Mass Effect 2 on PS3, there wouldn't be any legal problems, in terms of IP rights? Microsoft cannot do anything about it?

We definitely want to give as many people as possible a chance to play the game. The Unreal engine is cross-platform. I think maybe the only platform it doesn't work on is the Wii.

[Darziak]

Infiltrator class details is now available. (my fav class)

The full cinematic trailer looked good especially on HDTV, some new parts added from what was viewed in the cut down version and a large part towards end with a fight scene and then zooming out seeing a massive (ship, building?) thingy.

[theacefes]

Is that a Reaper ship? Or something new altogether?

[Archmage Silver]

News roundup, cinematic trailer links for PC

Is that a Reaper ship? Or something new altogether?

Most likely it's the Collectors.

Edit: Typo

Edited by Archmage Silver, 22 December 2009 - 11:55 AM.

[Qwinn]

Infiltrators get stealth?! *drool*

I was happy to see that they gave engineers pets too. That class desperately needed something unique to make them more than a combat-gimped Infiltrator, and pets sounds like a great way to do it. It'll almost be like playing solo Anarchy Online

Qwinn