Hudson ”didn’t want the game to be forgettable,” and that means even if it got the ”polarizing reaction” it has. All the unanswered questions are ”part of what’s exciting” about it.
There’s always been a ”little bit of mystery” in the series and ”a little bit of interpretation,” which is evident in how people are discussing the story ”after the fact.” Fans are still raging.
A campaign has even launched with raised donations going to charity Child’s Play, in a bid to show developer BioWare just how serious the Mass Effect community is in being upset over what they feel was a cheap send off.
”I didn’t want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people–debating what the endings mean and what’s going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in. That to me is part of what’s exciting about this story,” said Casey Hudson. ”There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it’s a story that people can talk about after the fact.”
BioWare take fan feedback very seriously, swears Hudson, and points to Mass Effect 2 and 3 having been directly influenced in some cases to what the community wanted. ”Oh, we pay very close attention to it. It’s very important to us and we will always listen to feedback, interpret it and try and do the right thing by our fans,” he said.
”That’s why if you look at Mass Effect 2 we knew that people wanted to spend more time with a character like Liara, and so we created an ongoing storyline with her as part of the comics and then built it into the DLC stuff, and we’re always listening to fans. We have some really great multiplayer content and some really great single-player content coming over the air, and their feedback will become part of how we design that.”
The community is pinning hopes to a DLC release later down the line that will offer an alternative ending to Mass Effect 3 - one where player decisions are felt to be more meaningful, which has been a corner stone of the RPG series. The problem seems to lie in the ‘disconnect’ between Shephard and his personality when making the final choice.
Have you played and completed Mass Effect 3? Do you hope for a new ending via DLC? Check out the full interview between Casey Hudson and Digital Trends, discussing the game and its controversies.