For me as a player, the sequence on Virmire where Normandy crew members clashed over what to do with research that could revive the Krogan race was a great example of that moment. Karpyshyn said that it was also one of the hardest moments to map out from a technical perspective. “The Ashley/Kaidan choice sort of affects what comes down the road. It’s going to completely change how the rest of the game plays out, because one of your primary characters is no longer there. That’s sort of a technical reason. There are some players who really struggle with that choice. I remember hearing from some players who said they literally sat the controller down and went to have a smoke or have a snack or something, and think about it.”

Advertisement

“I thought that was just going to be a great moment,” Karpyshyn continues, “especially in the second or third game, when you’re playing and a consequence plays out and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I totally want the other decision. Do I want to go back and replay this whole series just to change that?’ ”

But a series as big as Mass Effect can’t deliver on everything its creators wanted. I mentioned to Karpyshyn that the Rachni plotline didn’t go where I was expecting. They’re this vast marauding race, but are organic, not mechanical like the Reapers. It seems like a face off between those two races in the third game would hinge on what you did in the first game. “The Rachni choice is something we really wanted to have massive repercussions down the road. Unfortunately, the realities of working in the industry—schedules and budgets and deadlines—mean that we can’t do everything we want to do.”

Advertisement

“I will say one of the ways we tried to offset that was with the inclusion of the Geths and the Geth party member that came in Mass Effect 2, was Legion," he continued. "He was never originally planned and the Geth were going to be sort of pushed to the side. But people really responded to them. We wanted to explore the Geths and that was one of the tradeoffs of not doing more with the Rachni.”

Advertisement

My love for Mass Effect partially comes from how it mixes widescreen scale and personal drama. It feels like the kind of thing that big-budget games have to do nowawdays and the BioWare series is a good example of how to do it. Karpyshyn spoke to that challenge during our talk. “If I’m going to play 30 hours of a game and invest my time and effort, I want to make sure that the payoff is worth it. Now, it doesn’t necessarily have to be saving the entire galaxy, but I want the end to feel like the time I invested makes me feel like I accomplished something worthwhile.

”Whether I’m good or evil, Paragon or Renegade, or whatever I’m trying to do, I want to feel like, ‘Yes, that was worth spending hours and hours and hours of time to get there to the end.'" Karpyshyn said. "Not that it wasn’t a great game, but the days of Mario lets the princess in the castle [in Super Mario Bros.] probably are done in some way, because it doesn’t necessarily feel like that’s enough of a payoff for the kind of time and effort you would put into playing a game. You don’t want to do a bait and switch on the fans. If they’re expecting one thing, you don’t want to give them something completely different. It’s okay to have surprises, or even twists, or things that go in different directions, but you still have to fulfill those basic needs that they’re looking for. If they’re looking to be the epic hero, you better make sure that they’re an epic hero by the time everything is said and done.”

Advertisement

It's Mass Effect Week at Kotaku. All week, we'll be taking a look back at the last five and a half years of galaxy-saving heroism, cross-species romance, and awkward dancing. You can follow along here.