Twist, Lucas. History of the creation of the Mass Effect trilogy

It would seem a couple of years ago a couple of years ago Mass Effect Distracted not a new trilogy, but shameful oblivion. And not only players annoyed by the fourth part, but also the publisher. However, Electronic Arts I would not have been if I had not recognized my own decision hasty and did not come up with a way to turn the situation in its favor. Still from the moment the original Mass Effect More than 10 years have passed, and the classics, as you know, today is not only fashionable, but also financially profitable to reprint. Therefore, EA decided not to trifle and released Remaster at once the entire trilogy. On this occasion, we decided to recall how the series was generally born and what problems in the future.

Great begins with a large

Mass Effect owes its birth to not at all a happy occasion: the Gamedie Hadson Gamede Hamson, a solid background, was to create the main project in his career. At the beginning of the zero, he managed to attach a hand to the cult MDK 2 And Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn For a couple with Neverwinter Nights, and later under his leadership came out Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, shaking the RPG genre. Yes, and Drew Karpishin, who wrote the script for the game, was also not a newcomer at all: he took part in the development of all iconic role -playing games BioWare first half of the zero, including underestimated Jade Empire. Colleagues related not only devotion to the work, but also an interest in science fiction-the guys sincerely believed that someday they would have a chance to do something truly epic. In less than a year, it appeared on the horizon Microsoft , looking for developers who are able to create a hit exclusive for their new generation console – Xbox 360. Mindful of the success of the Kotor, originally released on Xbox , The company easily provided BioWare All necessary resources for the project.

Casey Hudson and Drew Karpishin

Khadson, along with Karpishin, conceived not just a blockbuster, which will spur the sales of the platform, but a whole saga that can compete "Star Wars". According to the idea, the first part of the future Mass Effect should have already hit the players with a large -scale lorus, but at the same time not to upload all the cards on the table ahead of time. Karpishin, screaming inspiration in cinema science fiction (from "Star Way" And "Alien" to "Firefly" ), I had to work thoroughly to avoid too obvious borrowing. The Sinopsis was based on the story of humanity, which mastered interstellar flights and ultimately encountered the reaps, destroying all the living times every fifty thousand years.

The tie is banal, but in the plot there was a place for a truly unexpected turn and a painstakingly created universe: although Karpishin was the main scriptwriter, in reality over the extraterrestrial races inhabiting unknown planets, a whole team puzzled. Despite the substantial development period, the studio had to be fenced to the full, to create a game of such a scale from scratch and endow each races with a solid background. Not to mention dialogues with secondary characters, for which the masses are not ashamed even from the height of past years.

Mass Effect

But how were things with gameplay? Hudson wanted to make a fight at Mass Effect dynamic, so he refused step -by -step battles in favor of shootings that were clearly created with an eye on GEARS of WAR. Like Fable, successful combined action from the third person and role-playing mechanics, the BioWare project surprised the shelter system atypical for the genre and the camera from behind the shoulder. Casey also planned to implement in the game the possibility of instant switching between the main character and his partners, but during the testing it became obvious that such a trick could not even strength a new generation console. Therefore, I had to dwell on a compromise and leave the control of assistants in the hands of AI – the player could only give commands.

Also, one of the key features of the game was the moral system – the attitude of secondary characters to the main character directly depended on his actions. And, of course, you can’t ignore the scandal with bed scenes: the lawsuits with the mod have not yet been forgotten Hot Coffee For GTA: San Andreas, How Puritan has a new reason to sound the alarm. In the light of a more realistic graphics, a frank image of sex has become an object of criticism. First, in the game, “The Blogger-Neo-Conservator Kevin McCalou was held, and then activist Cooper Lorens. The first one accused the studio of promoting pornography, and the second – in the formation of adolescents incorrectly attitude towards women. Although anyone played in Mass Effect, in general, is well known that nudity does not play a key role here. What is curious – after a flurry of criticism already of the “protesters” and Kevin and Cooper apologized for their behavior and honestly admitted that they were poorly familiar with the object of attacks. But in Singapore, the scenes of sex between a person and an alien were considered unacceptable and banned the game for sale.

However, Bioware and Microsoft seemed to be only happy with the extra PR, whatever it was. Ultimately, the game was met with a bang and sold in such a circulation that the issue of developing the continuation was not even discussed.

In the arms of EA

In fairness, not everything in the Mass Effect turned out like a needle: if the script and ENT praised everything, then in the case of a game design, Hadson was still where to grow. Like it or not, the lack of experience in shooters made itself felt – claims were both to the interface and the implementation of the mechanic. People who have passed the first part probably still recall the battle with Matriarch Benesia, which took place in a tiny location without any shelter. And, of course, only the lazy did not scold trips on an all -terrain vehicle, which was used for movements by planets, for a curve of physics and uncomfortable management.

Fortunately, Hudson did not sit back and began to study the public claims to correct everything in the sequel. Most of the improvements predictably fell to the share of the combat system, which now began to resemble a solid shooter. It became easier to aim-largely due to the fact that the pumping of the character now did not affect his ability to get into an apple from hundreds of meters. Quick "sticking" to the walls, a separate counter of cartridges: it was a competent work on mistakes, which practically equalized the quality of the performance of the gameplay and the plot. The hated all -terrain vehicle was also sent to a landfill.

Mass Effect 2

As for the script – since the audience enthusiastically accepted secondary characters and living dialogs with party members, Karpishin did not come up with anything better than acting on the principle of “a lot – not a few”. At the same time, in the sequel there was the possibility of importing storage from the first part, so that the script already from the threshold corresponds to the decisions adopted earlier. Of course, I had a hard time, given the ornate plot with a lot of forks, but Bioware was fully rewarded for its hard work. Despite the fact that Mass Effect 2 It did not seem the same revelation as the original, the audience met her with open arms. And, no matter how surprising it may sound, the high demand for the series in a sense played a cruel joke with it.

Even before the release of the first part, a book telling the background to Mass Effect was published. Other works, mainly acting as bridges between games, and then comics and (after the release of the third part), even anime, pulled up. They didn’t have time to blink in BioWare, like a 2007 masterpiece turned into a multimedia franchise, so Electronic Arts decided to squeeze out all possible profit from intellectual property in her corporate identity. One of the first alarming bells was the release of paid additions to Mass Effect 2, collected from carved content. In the eyes of the company, the series has already ceased to be a beautiful line in the financial report – now it was a chicken that carries golden eggs. However, by that time, Bioware was not less successful Dragon Age, And in the development there was an ambitious Star Wars: The Old Republic. Nevertheless, the second part of the ME, despite the shorter development period, was created in an absolutely calm atmosphere when the publisher did not stand over his soul and did not drive the employees.

Mass Effect 3

Unfortunately, Drew Karpishin made a choice in favor of Star Wars, and not the future Mass Effect 3, and went to do the aforementioned The Old Republic. In his place came Mac Walters, who was engaged in sideways in the second part. The newly made screenwriter was quite harshly through the developments of his predecessor and, instead of the epic completion of the trilogy, issued an extremely axial finale. In any case, this opinion is shared by a significant part of the fans, to whom it seemed that the third part spits on the legacy of the series and unintelligibly answers the questions that have tormented players for so long. In attempts to soften the reaction of the BioWare audience, even released an addition to an expanded ending, but there was little to use it. The finale only overgrown with many new details, but still suffered from the slurred motivation of characters, which is largely contrary to the events of the predecessors. The fact that Fitzdares sister sites Karpishin, who did not participate in the development of the game, still had his own view of the final of the trilogy, added even more oil into the fire – the leadership just decided not to resort to his ideas.

Separately, it is worth noting the multiplayer, which debuts precisely in Mass Effect 3. In many ways, his appearance was dictated by EA herself, let Hudson and was only for: according to him, the presence of a multi -user regime makes it possible to spend even more time for the game. In addition, success in network battles indirectly influenced the ending of a single campaign. From the point of view of gameplay, it was a cooperative action that supports up to four players – it needed to beat off the waves of enemies until evacuation transport arrives. In the wake of the popularity of the network mode, the initial set of 6 cards increased to 13, and some have additional dangers: sandstorms, acid rains, and so on.

True, due to the fault of the multiplayer, the third part is also often accused of the fact that it was she who instilled in many developers a love of microtransactions even in AAA Taytlah. Hudson himself explained the availability of payments by the fact that the creation of a multiplayer at that time promised large expenses. Therefore, the possibility of accelerating pumping and other paid buns allowed to kill two birds with one stone – to cover the costs and extend the hand of help to gamers who thirsty to get everything at once.

On the tip of the knife

Nevertheless, with all its roughnesses, Mass Effect 3 still received quite positive reviews. And since the game came under the sunset of the Xbox 360 and PS3 life cycle, the idea to release the continuation already on the new generation platforms seemed attractive to the publishing house. However, the problems were waiting for the future fourth part of the threshold. At first, Bioware left Casey Hudson, and after him, many veterans of the series left the studio throughout the entire development cycle, who were immediately replaced by newcomers. EA, apparently, thought that the Mass Effect would be bought in any case, and decided to save money by entrusting the development of the Montreal unit. The main team from Ostin was entrusted to the creation Anthem – As time will tell, even more failure than Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

The fourth was disappointed literally to everyone. Technical performance, for example, did not comply with the standards of both past parts and industry as a whole. Moreover, we are talking not so much about the dominance of bugs as about the inept personal animation, turning the Mass Effect: Andromeda into the meme. But the worst is a new plot. Fans of the series accepted the heroes of the series at best with yawning, and at worst-howled from disappointment and recalled the glorious days spent by Shepard from the original trilogy. But it was the script that has always been one of the two pillars of the success of the franchise. As a result, the fourth part received an unexpectedly restrained reaction of the press and failed in sales, which is why the content planned for addons was canceled a few months after the release of the game.

Despite the sad outcome, Bioware has found a great way to return the audience’s trust and at the same time warm the soil for the potential fifth part – release Mass Effect Legendary Edition, reprinting the original trilogy that has already been released today.

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