Mass Effect retrospective and infographic farewells Shepard
Mass Effect's first trilogy is over, but it won't be forgotten. Check out a lovely farewell video from the BioWare team, and some interesting statistics from the final chapter.
I'll try to avoid spoilers when highlighting some of the more interesting statistics; don't read the infographic below if you're yet to finish Mass Effect 3.
More than 64% of Mass Effect 3 players favoured Paragon over Renegade, and only 18% of those who actually finished Mass Effect 3 players as the female version of Commander Shepard. I think it's interesting to note that BioWare has never revealed what percentage of repeat playthroughs are made with FemShep, for any of the three games to date; anecdotal evidence suggests more devoted fans tend to favour Jennifer Hale's voice acting.
Over 43% of players chose the Soldier class, with Engineer and Adept the least popular at 5% and 8% respectively. 10.7 billion enemies have been shot in Mass Effect 3's multiplayer.
Liara is the most popular squad member, very closely followed by Garrus. Vega has the highest survivability rate, while Kaidan has the lowest. According to Eurogamer's report of the PAX East panel at which the infographic and video were presented, BioWare said they weren't planning on bringing Tali back as a squad member in Mass Effect 3, but passionate fans in the studio demanded it.
When traditional fantasy RPG developer BioWare announced Mass Effect, many fans were concerned by the shooter gameplay and sci-fi setting, but it went on to spawn one of the industry's most successful franchises. Mass Effect 3, which released in March 2012, closed the initial trilogy and farewelled Commander Shepard and crew. A new entry will be developed at BioWare Montreal while BioWare Edmonton moves on to a new project.
