The plot thickens, almost literally
You didn’t think it was over did you? Okay, so the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy is really over, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t fair few untold tales about it’s development.
In an interview with videogame radio show Video Game Sophistry, ex-BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn sheds light on what were discussed as possible endings to the Mass Effect trilogy. It seems the initial ideas all placed a heavy emphasis on biotics and dark energy, with the Reapers acting as some sort of guardians to the universe. “Dark Energy,” Karpyshyn says, “was something that only organics could access because of various techno-science magic reasons we hadn’t decided on yet. Maybe using this Dark Energy was having a ripple effect on the space-time continuum…then we thought, let’s take it to the next level.
“Maybe the Reapers are looking at a way to stop this. Maybe there’s an inevitable descent into the opposite of the Big Bang (the Big Crunch) and the Reapers realize that the only way they can stop it is by using biotics, but since they can’t use biotics they have to keep rebuilding society — as they try and find the perfect group to use biotics for this purpose. The asari were close but they weren’t quite right, the Protheans were close as well.”
The full interview goes on to detail even more ending possibilities, which in hindsight all sound pretty cool. Just don’t torture yourself with the thought that they would have necessarily have been better. The ideas were all undercooked, and ultimately couldn’t go anywhere for one reason or another. Karpyshyn continues, “I find it funny that fans end up hearing a couple things they like about it and in their minds they add in all the details they specifically want. It’s like vapourware — vapourware is always perfect, anytime someone talks about the new greatest game. It’s perfect until it comes out.”
Ideas left out of a games usually find themselves into sequels though, so who knows. Maybe some of these ideas can crop up in future Mass Effect projects in some form.
Ex-Bioware writer discusses dropped ideas for Mass Effect trilogy ending [Eurogamer]