Gamescom 2011 - Mass Effect 3 updates

I will be updating this thread continiously throughout the week with the latest information regarding Mass Effect 3. Upload images and videos when I get a hold of them, and start listing new known features.

Also, please note that you will mainly see mainly action focused videos in trailers and marketing for the simple reason that they want to avoid spoilers a lot more this time. For ME2 there was a lot of criticism for excessive spoiling of the story.

Current schedule for ME3 is as followed:

Date Time - CET Time - PST Presentation Type Status & Links Tuesday, August 16th 16:00 - 17:00 7:00AM - 8:00AM Day 0 Presentation Finished Wednesday, August 17th 19:00 - 19:05 10:00AM - 10:05AM FemShep Update Finished Thursday, August 18th 18:15 - 18:30 9:15AM - 9:30AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Friday, August 19th 16:00 - 16:15 7:00AM - 7:15AM Interview - Gavin Dunne Finished Friday, August 19th 18:15 - 19:30 9:15AM - 10:30AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 11:30 - 12:00 2:30AM - 3:00AM Producer Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 12:15 - 12:45 3:15AM - 3:45AM EA Q&A - Michael Gamble Finished Saturday, August 20th 16:00 - 16:15 7:00AM - 7:15AM Interview - Patryk Olejniczak Finished

Recordings from the two Saturday streams seem to have been lost.

Day 0 - Press Conference

Mass Effect 3: Squad Leader - Minor new details and it's part of a series of videos.

The engineer was showcased, using both Incinerate and Cryo Blast. The heavy melee attack is an incinerating omni-blade.

Liara gets picked up and crushed by the Atlas mech. Apparently not wise to stand near it.

Day 1 - Day of FemShep

On Bioware Pulse, David Silverman announced a second round of voting for the femShep appearence on their Facebook page. The hair style is locked, but you vote between a brunette, regular blonde, dirty blonde or redhead.

The final face of the female Shepard to be voted for

I created a poll for you guys to vote from. The official voting will be going on for a week and the winner announced at PAX.

Day 2 - Mass Effect 3 Q&A

Q&A Summary

The CE Robot dog is possible to interact with aboard the Normandy, like having it follow you around, play fetch and it apparently has a story to it. No details on whether it's combat able or not though.

Character creator will get a lot more hair styles and facial features in ME3. So expect the hairstyles from the femShep competition to make it into the CC.

They are considering an Uber achievement for all three games. What that is exactly is they don't know, but they want to reward their long term fans.

All squad mates will get their story and closure for ME3 even if they might not be a permanent squad member.

We'll see more of the Yahg (The former Shadow Broker)

Not loyalty of people, but loyalty of races. Less focus on building loyalty with squad members and more on the various races. So expect previous loyalty and decisions to play a part in this.

XP system goes back to ME1. No details but they won't do the mission summary XP from ME2.

The fate of the squad mates will not always be up to the player and decisions that feels right can prove to be harmful.

The banter will be increased significantly since the squad member group is smaller this time.

The ending of ME3 will give closure to the trilogy so don't expect answers on post ME3 DLC until the game is out.

There will not be an SDK after Mass Effect 3.

Day 3 - A song for the Normandy and more ME3 Q&A

Gavin Dunne, the creator of the fan song "Commander Shepard", was interviewed today and showed his latest song Normandy.

Q&A Summary

Special guest, Casey Hudson, was unable to join David Silverman on the stream so it became a Q&A similar to yesterday. Oh well.

Joker EDI romance is being "looked at".

Aside from the Krogan princess, we will apparently not see female counterparts of turians, salarians and so on in ME3 either.

Mods for ME2 has to be remade for ME3.

Thane is still alive in ME3. (if he survived Collector Base)

Kelly Chambers will return.

Romance between Joker and Shepard is a case of "you have to play it to see it"

If Hammerhead or Mako returns it's closer to critical path missions. Don't expect exploration using these vehicles.

The Normandy will be upgraded by the Systems Alliance, so resource gathering for the ship is not likely this time.

The geth quarian conflict will be concluded.

Existing music from ME1 and ME2 will make its way into ME3.

Side quests will pretty much always be in line with the critical path story.

Classes will get new powers with up to six different ways to customize each power

Squad mates appearances and armor will be possible to customize again.

Seems Cerberus will be a full blown antagonist and not possible to align with in ME3.

They have DECIDED about whether you'll get to see Tali's face or not.

Day 4 - ME3 Q&A's and Patryk Olejniczak

Bioware Q&A Summary

There may be time sensitive story elements though it will be more focused ones like the Normandy crew.

ME3 will make you cry!

There will be a larger variety of environments compared to ME2.

Heavy melee will pretty much always kill a target, but defensive factors like armor, barriers and shields will affect the outcome. Also don't try to melee an Atlas mech.

There will be mini games though no announcements.

We may see Quarians without masks. Whether that would include Tali or not was left unsaid.

see Quarians without masks. Whether that would include Tali or not was left unsaid. The choices you make in the trial at the beginning of ME3 will set the tone for the future in the game

James Vega's voice actor will be announced really soon and is apparently a closely guarded secret, since he's really awesome.

Indoctrination seem to play a role in ME3, possibly including party members.

Kal'Reegar will return in ME3.

They are discussing possibilities of missions that ties back to your background choice for Shepard.

You have a lot more romance options in ME3. Possibly not limited to party members.

EA Q&A Summary

You will be able to change class if you import your ME2 Shepard to ME3. Though you will have to start from Lvl 1 while kept class will get Import+ perks.

Legion will return with a larger role in ME3.

There may be a 'special' import for saves where Shepard died. The interest is clearly too big for them to simply ignore such a treat.

be a 'special' import for saves where Shepard died. The interest is clearly too big for them to simply ignore such a treat. Miranda will be back and has unfinished business with Shepard.

Shepard's SPECTRE status will play part in ME3 and change things if you had the status reinstated in ME2.

Conrad Verner's back.

Normandy will be the SR-2 with an Alliance paint and some redesigned interiors. Joker will apparently be happy with it.

How many team mates you speak to at the same time aboard the Normandy depends on the context of the missions.

You'll have debriefings after each mission that are deeper than ME2, but you are still likely to only talk to the squad mates one on one outside of that.

Fan Art

Fan artist Patryk Olejniczak, or Patryk Garrett on deviantart, was interviewed in the final livestream for Mass Effect. He showed off his last piece as a fan artist before he joins the team at Bioware as an artist for the marketing department.

Sample of his final piece. The full image will be posted when he returns from Gamescom.

Images

More of German Shepard's exploits can be found here.

There's the Shepard we know!

Clash of the Franchises

Shepard Wins - Friendship!

Day 1 - Press Line

Day 2 opening - 4 hour line

Day 1 - Press Line

Incineration Omni-Blade

Adept Heavy Melee

Atlas Mech Bringing the pain

Man Vs. Machine

Batarian Husk

Must go faster. Must go faster!

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Videos