Mass Muzyka: Mass Effect 2 Interview

Mass Effect 2 is nearing the final stages now. How do you feel about the development process?

Ray Muzyka: The quality of the experience just blows me away. The team is so passionate and they’re so engaged. They’re using a foundation they built with a lot of blood, sweat and tears with the first game, and now they’re having the fun. They’re having a really fun experience building the sequel that’s part of this planned trilogy so it’s always been part of our goal to expand out the universe of Mass Effect, and because we’re developing it with tools and a framework and engine we’ve used for a while, we’re able to build a really high-quality experience. The intensity of the shooter is really amazing; it feels as much like a shooter as it does an RPG. We certainly haven’t sat on our laurels for the characters. Exploration of the world and just the graphics, the quality and their fidelity, the technical improvements – the frame rate is rock solid. So many things are improved that it’s hard to list them all, but it’s across the board. They made a list of everything they wanted to fix in the first game and improved, based on fan feedback and press feedback, pretty much every single one of them, and we’re not losing anything.

Greg Zeschuk: I think with Mass Effect the RPG underlining was never specifically the traditional RPG system. It certainly took inspiration from it, and I think the fact that in a shooter a headshot should be a headshot is even stronger in Mass Effect 2. So, really a lot of the RPG elements are focused on the customisation and progression and some on things like the armour. You can really do a lot more than before. The key thing being the shooter should still legitimately feel like a shooter. One of the things you have to be very careful to balance is when you have a sniper rifle aimed at a guy you don’t want to be shooting bullets that fly off. I’ve got him in my sights, I pull the trigger and the bullet goes over there [off-target] because my skill’s no good. These were things in the first ME that we started with, like having your skill dictate how much you can move, and we’ve been refining that because we wanted to really strengthen that. Structurally, it’s now really streamlined. A lot of the RPG systems are there in different ways. For us, we really wanted to keep the things that were strong in Mass Effect, like the combat intensity and the overall cinematic quality and the emotional nature of the narrative and make sure the rest of it is at the same level. I think that’s one of the most exciting things and challenges for the team. The advantages of starting with all the technology is we can focus on just making the shooting fun. There’s always a delicate balance of the RPG elements…

RM: It really feels like a new genre: a shooter/RPG. There are not too many examples of games that would put in that kind of choice that would have the same depth of exploration. The progression system, the story and the narrative, and all the choices, but also have a shooter combat experience that feels very precise. Mass Effect 2 is somewhat unique in that it has that depth and intensity all in one package, which I think millions of fans enjoy. It’s a fairly accessible experience.

BioWare games have always had strong narratives, and Mass Effect 2 looks to be continuing this tradition.

RM: One of the things that people have called out that they really loved in the first game is the narrative flow, the characterisation and the emotional intensity. Mass Effect has amped that all up. The interrupt system will happen periodically and they’re kind of like a random element of surprise where you can just get impatient: ‘No, I’ve had it!’ It’s almost a mini-game in a way, in how the dialogue system works. It’s the difference between having a first-person narrative like in Dragon Age, which is very engaging and you really feel like you’re saying the lines, whereas in Mass Effect you’re directing in the third-person where Shepard’s narrative should go and choosing a general direction for him. Is he going to be nice or angry or happy? Is he going to intimidate or persuade? And then something happens with the interrupt system because you don’t know what he’s going to do. But it’s fun.

GZ: Yeah, it’s a voyeuristic guilty pleasure.

RM: Our investment is more with the non-player characters and the way they react back to you, and it isn’t visible when you play it but behind the scenes it’s almost like an iceberg depending on what origin story you choose. There are always these non-visible choices that you only see if you choose a different path. It’s really a customised experience, deeply and personally.