Mass Effect 3 pulls in over 1,000 variables from Mass Effect 2

by Justin McElroy on Jun 14th 2010 10:30PM

We'll have an interview with Mass Effect chief Casey Hudson for you soon, but we wanted to give you this interesting little tidbit from the interview. Hudson says, "We're pulling in probably over a thousand variables from Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3 if you're importing your save game."

It's an impressive number to be sure, but keep in mind, they're not all reality-shifting choices. For example, Mass Effect 2 is slightly different depending on what advice you give to Rebekah Petrovsky regarding her baby (remember her?). So maybe not 1,000 earth-shattering variables.

Tags: bioware, e3-2010, ea, Mass-Effect-2, mass-effect-3, microsoft, pc, xbox

Reader Comments (56)

I'm sure 90% of those "variables" will be referenced solely through the in-game mail system.

Just like Mass Effect 2's usage of Mass Effect's events.

@Richard S

shut up and go away, this is awesome, and dont you dare forget it.

@Richard S

the internet seriously needs there to be a way for sarcasm to be noticed, because /s is just too obvious, and without it, it sounds assholey

@Richard S
From: Urdnot Wrex [genophag@tuch.aral.kdmz.mw]
To: Commander Shepard [comshep@normandy.cerberus.mw]

Shepard.
-----
From: Commander Shepard
To: Urdnot Wrex

God dammit how many times do I have to kill you?!

@Richard S Brian was being sarcastic ... Brian you should have included the /s , oh well

Why don't you take your own advice?

I'm a huge Mass Effect fan and will surely by the third installment. That doesn't bar me from seeing through marketing ploys like this one.

Interesting little tidbit for those who didn't know, but there is actually a demo on the marketplace for ME2.

@MystileArmor Really? Which scene did they demo?

I don't know, I didn't download it (yet), but it's up there now.

@MystileArmor

how funny i just got ME2 today

Where's the Ghost Recon: Future Soldier article at???

Btw. Finally wrapping up my third playthrough of ME1 this week, Ill finally get to take this out of the packet after all this time.

as much as i love this tidbit of info, this was announced weeks/months ago, in another interview with casey where he mentioned ME2 imported 700 and ME3 will likely import over 1000 choices.

not to be a jerk, i love joystiq, but for E3 day, this news is a bit old!

@(Unverified) Yeah, it's kind of old news but even repeat Mass Effect news makes me happy.

Just let me punch that reporter again, please please please

@TheyDidItFirst

I am sick of your snide insinuations!

@TheyDidItFirst

Yes..definitely want more of those bad ass renegade choices

@TheyDidItFirst I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions!

Yeah, it's definitely a ploy. The game should still be good, so long as they tone down the "summer blockbuster" aspect of the 2nd one a little bit.

Your choices in ME1 didn't really affect anything in the second besides certain characters that you might've pissed off not wanting to talk to you, or obviously certain characters not being alive any longer.

You would still get to the same ending eventually and the only difference would probably be who you brought with you. Granted there were some deaths that did kind of piss me off.

What about the whole thing about your Shepard being able to die in the 2nd one. I only played through it once and of course that didn't happen to me but I can't remember if there was a scene near the end that could've brought that possibility to fruition.

Pretty cool that they're already giving info on ME3. Transferring things between games like this is very cool, loved it in ME2. Hopefully 900 of those variables aren't just e-mails, though.

@RadiantViper

wow sorry, the reply to a reply system is broken. This was supposed to go to Zorak000

What you really mean is "I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions!"

Wow, 1000. They're putting a lot of effort here.

Makes me wonder that, if the devs are ready to talk anout ME 3, shouldn't we at least have seen something about it at the EA press conference?

@Shadowbender Maybe tomorrow at the Sony conference?

GOTY 2012

@TheMichaelJackson LOL. Second game wasn't even game of the quarter-year.

I still don't like Bioware. Maybe they should spend their time making games rather than thinking of how much they can take out of the game and sell it at a later date, or complaining about other developers selling more copies than they do.

But sarcasm doesn't give you automatic upvotes. It can still be bad or assholey.

That's great, but is there a reason why I can't back up that all-important save file to a flash drive?

^There is nothing funny at all about waiting to buy ME2.

What took you so damn long, dood?

That's quite a lot, and I'm happy to say I'm glad they'll bring all these choices back, even if it's just a reference e-mail.
I can't wait to see what happened to the Asari who I released from the Thorian.

"Ah Krogan ate moy baybee..."

@Solar Jetman

Steve Irwin... is it true? Are you alive?

Oh, it's just Paul Hogan...

can't wait for ME3....however I would have thought that MS would have said something about it....if not them then EA....

Ok, wow, that did NOT work.

I love Mass Effect, and that is a shit load of variables.

Liara please love me again and stop being such a stone cold bitch...........

I miss you :*(

@RageRunner

Liara was always so damn robotic...

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY JOYSTIQ MY EARTH HAS BEEN TOTALLY SHATTERED.

So there.

I am a jealous PS3er

Sorry, but I have no idea what you're referring to.

ok it took me a second but i get what it is. thats the lolwut pear thingy with the smile
http://www.lolwut.com/layout/lolwut.jpg

According to the manual, the current transfer cable only transfers data from a hard drive with storage capacity less than the hard drive you are transfering to. So the question is for us Xbox 360 owners with a 250 GB drive, how will we transfer our data to the new slim models. Also just ask anyone who tried transfering "Mass Effect" end game character saves to a new hard drive, simply copying files does not work. There are hidden files on the drive. I hope the devs let us know if Mass Effect 3 will simply work off of in-games saves to import your Shepherd.

@MassEffect2 There are no secret files, your game completion data is in the main mass effect save, not your save game files

Yes that is true. However "Mass Effect 2" would not read the main mass effect 1 save file generated at the end of "Mass Effect 1" if it was on a drive that you copied to. I know this is crazy but "Mass Effect 2" only read that save file if it was on the original drive that it was generated on. There were many complaints about this. One solution was for those who did not delete their near end of game saves, to simply copy that save to the new drive and re-finish the game. Kind of cheesy. Now "Mass Effect 2" does not seem to be using that type of system. Perhaps the devs have learned.

The other (IMO easier) option was just to pop the old hard drive onto the new console, start up ME2 and import your save, and then switch back to your new hard drive.

That's what I did and it worked. Although I guess with the slims you can't really just stick the old drives on there anymore.

Really enjoyed ME2 even though I haven't played the first. Problem is that I REALLY disliked mining for resources. I mean it's the main thing that is keeping me from doing a second playthrough with a new Shephard. I have no desire whatsoever to go through that again - which is ashame, as the game is great otherwise.

I'm Commander Kelborn and this is my favourite Joystiq Article about Mass Effect.

"I am commander shepard and this is my favorite website."

@(Unverified) "...On the Citadel"

@TheMichaelJackson

There's been some good games this year, definitely. But nothing's taken Mass Effect 2 out of GOTY contention, that's for sure.

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Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 pulls in over 1,000 variables from Mass Effect 2

Reader Comments (56)

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:32PM Richard S said

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Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:45PM BrianH said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:08PM Solar Jetman said

Posted: Jun 15th 2010 3:59AM McDuckScrooged said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:34PM Richard S said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:33PM MystileArmor said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:38PM Shadowbender said

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Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:36PM Zorak000 said

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Posted: Jun 15th 2010 10:30AM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jun 15th 2010 2:18PM samdavis said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:35PM RadiantViper said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:51PM TheyDidItFirst said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:50PM TheyDidItFirst said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:37PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:38PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:39PM TheMichaelJackson said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:13PM Discotheque said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:41PM MrCassian said

Posted: Jun 15th 2010 3:08AM Unvrfd said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:45PM quarlie said

Posted: Jun 15th 2010 12:10AM Prinnywithascarf said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:52PM Dr Acula said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:58PM Solar Jetman said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:00PM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 10:58PM Chris DPSN AggieCEO XBLThe Aggi said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:11PM R Planteer said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:20PM Rhamsey said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:29PM RageRunner said

Posted: Jun 15th 2010 12:32AM Deschain said

Posted: Jun 14th 2010 11:38PM dantebk said

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