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Shepard will have plenty of Reaper-shaped problems to solve in Mass Effect 3, but BioWare is still undecided if it’ll be able to get to the bottom of one of the series’ most commonly asked questions: what, exactly, does Tali’s face look like?
In an interview with Xbox World 360 (via CVG), Mass Effect 3 art director Derek Watts emphasised that fan reaction to Mass Effect 3’s redesigned characters has been mostly positive. “You know, [the fans have] been pretty receptive to the changes we’ve made. We haven’t really had much negative feedback from them.”
One of the most difficult redesigns was Tali, however. “We changed Tali – that was tough because people were very passionate about her. A lot of people want to have her face revealed and obviously people are going to be pissed off either way.
“Like ‘I thought she was going to look beautiful!’ or ‘I thought she was going to be the most hideous thing ever!’
“We’ve had a lot of debate over Tali’s face, but that’s the one we kind of dread a lot. We’re always ‘well, let’s talk about something else for a while!’
With only 9 months left until Mass Effect 3 is released, BioWare is going to have to make its mind up soon. “That’s something we’re going to have to decide,” says Watts.
When asked whether or not people would just rather play with their old squads, Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson said “all feedback is valid. People wanted us to recreate the experience that we had with ME1 in ME2, and to them it meant that all those characters had to come back and do all the same kinds of things, but if we did that when you get together with someone a second time, that’s very different.
“So much of the experience from ME1 was discovery. So we’ll do that again with ME3, but we’re focusing on a smaller squad with deeper relationships and more interesting interplay.”
Will every single main character from Mass Effect 1 and 2 make an appearance? “Every main character is in there somewhere, kind of doing the thing that is right for that character,” said Hudson.
“Zaeed for example is a very simple character and what he’s up to is different to, say, Liara, who is very pivotal”
Last week BioWare said it might have cut ‘too deep’ with Mass Effect 2’s customisation options, and that the third game would rectify this.
The developer is also looking for the right way to continue the Mass Effect series after the third game.
