Mass Effect 3 story to be shaped by "over 1,000 variables"

BioWare has said the story in Mass Effect 3 will be "shaped by over 1,000 variables" from the first two games.

Speaking with PC Zone, project lead Casey Hudson said Mass Effect 3 will be impacted by the decisions players made in previous ME games, just like ME2.

"We plan out the larger plot points of the story from one game to the next, but it would be impossible to plan it all in advance," he said. "More importantly, we'd never be able to plan as many creative opportunities if we'd do it all up front. Instead, we record what a player has done in a play-through, and then we have all of those choices available that writers can refer to as they build storylines.

"Numerically, it's over 1,000 variables that we'll have access to for shaping the Mass Effect 3 experience for people who've played the previous games."

Hudson said the team doesn't plan to reinvent the series for it's third outing, as it already implemented the changes it wanted in the second go-round.

"If you define an RPG as a game where you equip your hero by sifting through an inventory of hundreds of miscellaneous items and spend hours fiddling with numerical statistics, then Mass Effect 2 isn't one," he said.

"In Mass Effect 2 we focused on what we love about RPGs: An awesome sense of exploration, intense combat, a deep and non-linear story that's affected by your actions, and rich customization of your armor, weapons and appearance.

"We had an overwhelmingly positive response to this approach, and while we'll make further adjustments to it for Mass Effect 3, we're really happy with how it's been received so far."

Mass Effect 3 is still in the planning stages last we heard, and ME2 had the Firepower Pack released for it yesterday.

More Mass Effect 2 DLC is expected "soon" with Lair of the Shadow Broker.

Via CVG.