BioWare: Why We Are Making Mass Effect As A Trilogy

Yesterday MTV Multiplayer showed you how Denis Dyack justified Too Human being a trilogy.

Today, witness how BioWare's founders answered when MTV Multiplayer asked why Mass Effect needed to be three parts.

[Silellak]

It's pretty obvious.

Games are EXPENSIVE to make these days. Especially ones with as many voice actors as Mass Effect. A single game the size of the Mass Effect trilogy would take a HUGE amount of time and money, and no company can afford absorb those sort of development costs for a single game without releasing something.

You'll notice huge single player RPGs like Oblivion have a lot of repitition in texture use, voice actor work, etc. Why? Because textures and voice actors are expensive, so in order to make a huge game world, they have to cut back where they can.

Also, this allows them to get a LOT of feedback on what people liked or hated about the first one, and make those changes - as well as hopefully improve their use of the Unreal 3 engine - between parts.

As long as I always get my $60 worth - and Mass Effect insured I did - I don't care if games are released in trilogies or not.

[Excalibur]

I won't be buying anymore.

I know I'm in the minority that didn't like the game but to me it just wasn't fun.
I played about an hour and a half and had enough, haven't touched it since.

Let there be disagrees....

[Chug]

You're not alone, I didn't care for it either.

[meepmoopmeep]

i have yet to try ME but i understand where you're coming from. 10 hours into excruciating boredom in a game called Oblivion made me realize that review scores and awards means sh*t to me from now on.

i'll wait for the PC port to come out for ME to give it a try and judge if i want to play its sequels.

[Adamalicious]

I was a little disappointed by it - and I played the whole thing, every side quest, everything. I think my decision on the next chapter will be down to them fixing the things that held the first on back: technical problems, poor inventory system, etc.. Not likely to be a day one purchase for me.

[INehalemEXI]

I liked it but not as much as I like KOTOR.

[Bleucrunch]

I didnt like it as well......oh wow I thought I was the only one. I really love Oblivion though.

[wageslave]

Well, it did win multiple Game of the Year awards... I wouldnt expect *everyone* to love it, but we can be positively sure that the next game will do very well, and many people are truely looking forward to it.

Day one purchase for me.

[kingme71]

It's money in the bank to follow up a successful game with a 2nd and 3rd one. That being said, it is risky to start working on a trilogy's 2nd and 3rd parts before you know how well the 1st one does, especially if you leave the 1st one's story hanging and sales don't warrant a follow up.

[Z501]

also ...
A RPG trilogy can't fit on DVD9, sorry.

My ? is, if they already have the whole story or the majority written,why specifically a trilogy?
Why not 4 parts or 2?
I definently expect the usual video game filler (useless parts just to fill the disc)
In a nutshell what i'm trying to say is.With a game this big there should be NOTHING cut from it.
So i expect multiple disc.Which is'nt a bad thing.
But i also expect video game filler(which should'nt be needed for a game like this.(this big)

[Silellak]

I was going to mention the DVD9 limitation thing, but if they really wanted to just release a single game, they could put it on multiple DVD's with little problem.

[poopface1]

I can only imagine what they could do with 2 or 3 dvds. The game would take forever to beat, and thats just the main story. It took me 23 hrs(on the game clock) to beat ME and I didnt do most of the boring side missions. I wasnt intrested in this game in the least bit untill I tried it in Feburary. I will probaly buy the second one and wish that id have bought ME instead of AC(cause unlike AC I would have kept it).

[Sez]

i can't wait for the next game. i really enjoyed the first.

[brothersimon]

same.

[wallace1000]

I love ME, a great game. If you have ADD though i wouldn't recommend it.

[wageslave]

If you like a game with depth and character development, you should play this. Best console RPG I've ever played (I'm a sucker for SciFi (but not as much as I am for post-apocalypse stories, I'm looking at you Fallout 3)).

[wallace1000]

Fallout 3 is going to be awesome, if they do it right i think it is going to rock ME. Fallout 2 was awesome even with all the bugs.

[Bubble Buddy]

Trilogies and sequels are way too common these days, and why not? It's easy cash for the developers.

[heyheyhey]

i hope its more, Mass Effect is very good IP IMO

[TurdStationPee]

It's a trilogy because most great forms of entertainment are. They know we want more. Might as well give it to us.

[TheBarExam_2]

I wonder will EA extend this to a franchise...

[Silver360]

So they could test the waters. It was not a guarantee that ME would be a hit. They got the first part out using MS money and the second two will be will be made with the proceeds of the sales of the first. And the second parts are now almost certain profit for them. You guys do understand one flop can put a studio out of business these days. That is why so many sequels are made. Nobody wants to lose a job.

[wageslave]

Its because its impossible to tell a deep, engrossing story in a videogame in the 20-40 hours most games take.

If you spend to much time on the story, people get angry that it took to much focus away from gameplay.

If you spend to much time on the gameplay, people say it is weak on story.

Solution? Make more epic narratives and tell them over a series of games.

I *like* an engrossing story, and the medium has proven that this method is attractive to make good stories in games.

Halo 1,2 and 3 are terrific evidence of how to tell an excellent and engrossing story in a vidoegame series.

BioShock was a rare title that managed to cram great story elements into a single game, but as we've seen, people are dying for more. If BioShock had taken a different approach from the start, it could have told the Rise and Fall of Rapture. Then, tell BioShock's "Return" story later.

Personally, after playing Mass Effect and the DLC, I *CANNOT* wait to play more Mass Effect. Too Human looks terrific, I have no problem playing a game that takes time to develop a deep story.

Give me *more* multiple game stories.

[pshizle]

one of my favorite games of all time