IGN AU: Hi Chris, thanks for the interview.
Chris Priestly: Thanks, no problem.
IGN AU: Let's start with a biggie. What is the total number of explorable planets in the final build?
Chris Priestly: To be honest, I don't know the exact final number - and it depends on what you mean by explorable. In terms of the total number of celestial bodies, shall we call it, that you can visit in Mass Effect, the number is somewhere around 240 to 250. Of those, not all of them are explorable. It would be like visiting Jupiter here in our solar system; there's just nothing to do when you get there! Wow, you found a great big gas giant! If you tried to land on it, you would die instantly because the atmosphere is corrosive
so not everything you can land on. Some things you just look at and leave. Other times we have subplots where you can recover gases and strange minerals and that kind of thing - where you can do some scanning for materials.
Then there are those that are fully explorable, that are smaller and you can do on foot and some that are so large that you need to get into the Mako - the combination ATV tank that you get to use. Again, you're looking at somewhere around 20 to 30 full-sized, plot driven planets where you're going to have to explore around.
IGN AU: How much do these vary in size? When compared with the worlds in Knights of the Old Republic, for instance.
Chris Priestly: There'd be a few that are about the same size as Kashyyyk or Taris - something along those lines. Some are larger - which is why we give you a vehicle this time to get around, because if we made you walk around, it would be a whole lot of walking. Even with the vehicle, if you were going end to end, on some planets it would take five minutes just to get to get to where you're going and five minutes to get back if you didn't bother stopping to do any of the plots along the way.
IGN AU: Morality steers the story in a big way. However, it's been said that this morality is actually persistent throughout the trilogy. If you have two morally opposite endings, how will it reconnect in the sequel?
Chris Priestly: I don't know a great deal about the second or third parts of the game yet. I know the lead writer and the writer of the Mass Effect novel have a bunch of ideas in terms of how the first one ends and how it will have ramifications on the second and eventually the third. I really don't want to say too much because I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea
what you do in the first game will definitely have and effect on what happens in the second and the third.
IGN AU: This question relates to that, too. Is it possible to be completely evil in the first game but totally good in the second?
Chris Priestly: I think throughout the whole game, certainly in the first one, you get to make the moral choice. Again, I don't know exactly where we're going to take the second and third games yet; I would assume, based on what you can do in the first game, that you'll have that freedom in the second and third ones as well.
IGN AU: When can we expect to see the first DLC content coming through?
Chris Priestly: I know they're already working on the DLC content for Xbox Live - that sort of thing. I think, within a month [of release] I think is a good estimation. I certainly would hope it's out in time for Christmas; it's certainly not set yet. It's all up in the air, depending on how well the game sells and all that good stuff. I would think that, by 2008, we would have at least one or two things up.
IGN AU: Will people who get onboard with part two or three be at a disadvantage, skills and equipment-wise? Conversely, will skills and items be persistent?
Chris Priestly: There would be no way that we would deliberately penalise a player like that. It would just be too unfair [to remove their gear]. Exactly how it'll work I'm not too sure yet, but you will not be penalise for not playing the first one.
IGN AU: 'Ambitious' is a term that gets bandied around a lot in games these days and Mass Effect gets labelled this quite a lot. Is the team satisfied that they've achieved everything they wanted to with Mass Effect?
Chris Priestly: I think so - I mean, I'm not in direct contact with the team all the time and all the leads are extraordinarily busy finishing the game, finally getting it gold and getting it out the door. But the team meetings I attend and actually playing through the game itself, it does actually achieve what it intended. In fact, I think it probably exceeds it, just because it was our first game on the Xbox 360, it was our first game with the Unreal Engine, we didn't know exactly how much we could put into it, how much space on one disc, two discs - whatever was going to be needed to make the game great. I know they're really proud of what they've achieved.
IGN AU: How much is really left to be discovered? Do you think fans who have been following from day-one will get the same impact as someone who's going into Mass Effect nice and fresh?
Chris Priestly: Yeah, oh god yeah.
IGN AU: How much of the game do you think has been seen publicly?
Chris Priestly: Five percent! [laughs] At best. You're looking at a game that, depending on how you play, how rapidly you progress through the story, how quickly you pick up combat and skip dialogue and so on, it'll take 20 hours. But then there are those people that play, like me, who want to do a romance plot, do party NPC plots, who get sidetracked with sub quests and such - then you're looking at maybe 60 hours at least. Again, it depends on your individual play style.
Knowing the video so far that have been released, and the screens, there's just so, so much that hasn't been seen before. There are a lot of surprises still there.
IGN AU: Is there still a sense of resolution at the end, even though there are two more games coming?
Chris Priestly: It's conclusive to the point that, if you enjoyed the game but never wanted to play another Mass Effect game again, you would've been totally satisfied with the experience. You're not going to be left hanging at the end of Mass Effect one. It's a self-contained story by itself, but there are definitely ways - and people will say 'oh! I see how they can do a second one!' That sort of thing.
IGN AU: Is there a tentative release timeplan for parts two and three at this stage?
Chris Priestly: Not that I know of; certainly at this stage they've done the first one and when it's out in stores, the team is going to take a well-deserved vacation and get their energy back. I know that some of them are already working on the Xbox Live content - certainly the lead artists, designers and programmers have already started thinking about where they're going to go and all that sort of thing.
They will be working on it essentially immediately; it's not something that's going to take years before we start working on the sequel and then years for the next one to come out. The preliminary work is underway - the preliminary work was in place when we started one because we had a general overriding idea of where we wanted to go, which is why we announced it as a trilogy at the start. I would think within a couple of years you'll be seeing the second one.
IGN AU: Is Shephard coming back?
Chris Priestly: Hmmm
could beeee! [laughs] How's that for vague? Could be! We'll see what the writing team comes up with for that.
IGN AU: Bioware has a near-religious fanbase. Have they had any influence on the direction of the game through forums, fansites, feedback or other words beginning with F?
Chris Priestly: Yeah, they really have. My job actually was created to deal with that. I was in QA at Bioware for over five years, and Bioware started to realise that it's not just the fans playing the game - we need feedback from them. That created my position as Community Coordinator, to sort act as a go-between. If fans say, 'you know what I really like? I like facial customisation' for instance.
IGN AU: Are there any cool in-jokes or easter eggs we should keep an eye out for?
Chris Priestly: There are definitely some things in there. Without giving away any major plot points, there's a really good one that I laughed out loud at. When you defeat a certain enemy in battle and a holographic AI popped up and it started giving this explanation when you were expecting to continue the mission and Shephard looks at it and goes 'oh great; another pop up!' [laughs]
There are little things like that - little bits of light humour. You know, Mass Effect is a darker, more mature game for us; I think in order to appreciate how occasionally dark and gritty it is, you get these contrasting elements of humour in the game. There are little secret things hidden here and there
IGN AU: Like what?
Chris Priestly: Nope! Nope! Not going there!
IGN AU: You old dog. Fine. For god sakes, give us Baldur's Gate III! What would it take to make this game happen? We'll do it. Name your price.
Chris Priestly: I would like to see it - I really would. I'd love to see it; I know there's all kinds of 'who owns what IPs' - Infogrames, Atari, Wizards of the Coast and everything that went in there. So many fans have great memories of Baldur's Gate, including myself and most of everybody at Bioware. It would be great -it's not something that's on our slate currently, but you never know what we're going to get up to next.
IGN AU: That makes me cry. Alright - five more years, when Mass Effect is out of the way - I expect to be holding a copy in my hands.
Chris Priestly: Possibly! You never know!
IGN AU: Thanks!
Chris Priestly: Oh no problem.
). Something's oing to have to wait until the new year. I fear it's going to be PS3 games that have to wait. Still, early 2008 looks strong for the PS3 so I guess I can have my cake and eat it, as it were.
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