BioWare: A Dead Shepard Stays Dead

[HyenaThePirate]

My concern though about all this "Shepard can DIE, he's DEAD!! No take backs!" stuff is that it's pretty much a gimmick.

I mean, couldn't you just play ME2 twice (or more times), and therefore SAVE Shepard and then just import THAT game save into Mass Effect 3?

I can see all this being relevant if you weren't allowed to have more than one game save or play through, but since you can have multiple game saves, it's all rendered moot right?

The only way something like this works is if they somehow force all of your game saves to have a "dead Shepard" if he dies in your game, so that you can't go back and "change history".

 

[Bigeyez]

Thats a bit silly, considering that the whole point of these games is to carve your own story, your own events etc. Now people will play trying to keep this certain person alive, which kinda goes against the point of the games. What if i hate Shepard and want to kill him off? I would then be effectively penalised for my actions in a game that boasts that the story is made and fashioned by the user...

Have you even played Mass Effect?...You do know Shepard IS the player character right? It should be pretty obvious that if you, the player, die at the end of the game, you won't be able to play as that same Shepard in ME 3...because he is dead...

Anyways this isn't even that big of a deal considering how you basically have to TRY to kill yourself on in the game. Pretty much the only way to die is to refuse to do any loyalty missions, not upgrade anything, and make all the wrong decisions at the end of the game.

 

[tk1989]

Thats a bit silly, considering that the whole point of these games is to carve your own story, your own events etc. Now people will play trying to keep this certain person alive, which kinda goes against the point of the games. What if i hate Shepard and want to kill him off? I would then be effectively penalised for my actions in a game that boasts that the story is made and fashioned by the user...

Have you even played Mass Effect?...You do know Shepard IS the player character right? It should be pretty obvious that if you, the player, die at the end of the game, you won't be able to play as that same Shepard in ME 3...because he is dead...

Anyways this isn't even that big of a deal considering how you basically have to TRY to kill yourself on in the game. Pretty much the only way to die is to refuse to do any loyalty missions, not upgrade anything, and make all the wrong decisions at the end of the game.

Ok, you have me there, i havent played the game. But if you died wouldnt the whole game just end anyway? kind of makes this type of announcement pointless? If your main character dies ofc you wont be able to play in ME3 because, well, you were unable to finish ME2 because, well, you died halfway through?

 

[DustyDrB]

Huh...I thought they would at least give the ME3 character a new last name if the ME2 Shepard dies. It's kinda awkward for continuity.
New Shepard: Joker take us to the Citadel, I need to speak to the Council face-to-face.
Joker: ...
New Shepard: Anytime now, Joker.
Joker: Who the hell are you?

 

[WaywardHaymaker]

Well, I achieved perfect ending status the first time through, no one died but Jack.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Well, I achieved perfect ending status the first time through, no one died but Jack.

Well, that's not perfect ending, then. Someone died.

 

[Jandau]

Ummm... don't you have to actively TRY to fail to get Shepard killed? Seriously, doesn't it require ZERO ship upgrades and ZERO Loyalty missions? And why the hell would you skip the Loyalty missions? They feel more like a part of the main plot than side quests...

Beyond that, I support this decision. What I'd like to know is how are they going to handle your party, considering you can end the game with anyhere between Everyone Alive and Sole Survivor...

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

hey if the hero dies, who are going to protagonize in Mass Effect 3 ? a new character?

 

[laryri]

Sounds pretty lame to me, so no matter what, it doesn't matter at all what you do in Mass Effect 2. A fresh Shepard is established into Mass Effect 3 with a canonical background with what happened in the second game. So how is that different from any other game ever made?

That's not true. You import your ME2 save and all your decisions and stats are imported.

 

[Doc Shaftoe]

Spoiler

I think the whole "Shepard is dead" thing refers to the opening segments of Mass Effect 2. The two year gap where Shepard is legitimately dead. And as has been stated before, it's really, REALLY hard to make Shepard die unless you're doing it intentionally. Basically you have to not play the game. I think it's perfectly reasonable for Bioware to say "no you can't use the character that you killed because you didn't play the gorram game." It's like if you were playing KOTOR and you had the option to jet off and fight Darth Malak RIGHT AFTER TARIS. You'd get your ass kicked and die. You'd miss out on the meat of the game, and the Galaxy would get destroyed. Bioware has said time and again that the Mass Effect trilogy is Shepard's trilogy, and that no matter how you do it, you will save the galaxy if you actually play the game and don't get yourself intentionally killed.

I don't know about you guys, but I was pissed that I lost Legion and Zaeed, not to mention all the minor characters during the final mission. So much so that I stopped playing that game and went back to start a new one. Second playthrough I got everyone through, because that's what my Shepard would do. He saved the Council, the Rachni, the geth, and Genophage cure. No one left behind right? It fit more with my Shepard. Plus, losing members of your squad, even the minor ones that you don't like, is a little heart-wrenching if you've already invested about 30+ hours into a game with them.

I understand where everyone is coming from. It would be nice to play ME3 without a Shepard, but if they did that they'd have to make two games. One with Shepard and one with the new-not-Shepard-Shepard character. That would mean double the dialogue and double the work. Instead of getting ME3 in early 2011 (which I really hope happens) we'd be getting it sometime in later 2011 or 2012. I know it essentially boils down to "that would just take an unreasonable amount of work" as an argument, but it makes sense. Plus, Mass Effect 2 is already 2 discs. Can you imagine what Mass Effect 3 would be if they included everything that people have been complaining about?

And essentially, you ARE playing as a different character. It would be like playing Mass Effect 2 without importing a save from ME1. You aren't playing as your character, you're playing as someone else. It all works out, but you just have to look at it from a less emotionally involved angle.

 

[Jared]

I really like that idea. Makes your decisions count even mre. Epic

 

[sunami88]

You probably would have done better to ask nicely and quote the op, even if with a snip, to help get that. I do get precisely where you're coming from, tho'

You're right. The nerd rage kinda kicked in, my bad *embarrassed*.

Still though, I was kinda disappointed when I saw the little auto-notification thingy from my RSS reader.

Given that Shepard's death was something that BioWare talked about several times before the game came out, it seems a bit unnecessary.

Like I said about the nerd rage, sorry. But I agree with what Jalugi said;

But we could of wrote that off as a dramatic advertisement. The title of this tells us that he does/could die, then I was stupid enough to read on and find out it's the could. A spoiler would of been nice.

I know I certainly just assumed it was advertising.

 

[Sir Strange Of The House Lycan]

Even if I do die it wont affect me, my brother who owns it will probably have sold it and deleted our saves before the third one is announced.

 

[Donttazemehbro]

I think what you mean is that if Shepard dies at the end of ME2 for you then you can not import that certain save but you can import other saves when he survives. Shepard is the main character in every game, it will be that way in the next as far as i can tell.

 

[Blanks]

okay.... but people can still start a new game right?, i mean you don't have to import your save >.>

 

[USSR]

And this is why you do your loyalty missions, folks.

Aren't you required to do your loyalty missions to progress through the story?

 

[Internet Kraken]

Thats a bit silly, considering that the whole point of these games is to carve your own story, your own events etc. Now people will play trying to keep this certain person alive, which kinda goes against the point of the games. What if i hate Shepard and want to kill him off? I would then be effectively penalised for my actions in a game that boasts that the story is made and fashioned by the user...

Have you even played Mass Effect?...You do know Shepard IS the player character right? It should be pretty obvious that if you, the player, die at the end of the game, you won't be able to play as that same Shepard in ME 3...because he is dead...

Anyways this isn't even that big of a deal considering how you basically have to TRY to kill yourself on in the game. Pretty much the only way to die is to refuse to do any loyalty missions, not upgrade anything, and make all the wrong decisions at the end of the game.

Ok, you have me there, i havent played the game. But if you died wouldnt the whole game just end anyway? kind of makes this type of announcement pointless? If your main character dies ofc you wont be able to play in ME3 because, well, you were unable to finish ME2 because, well, you died halfway through?

You don't die halfway through. In one of the endings, Shepard dies after completing his mission. Apparently some people, after watching the cutscene that occurs after this, thought that we might get anew protagonist in Mass Effect 3. So many that BioWare had to make this statement.

 

[UnravThreads]

Thats a bit silly, considering that the whole point of these games is to carve your own story, your own events etc. Now people will play trying to keep this certain person alive, which kinda goes against the point of the games. What if i hate Shepard and want to kill him off? I would then be effectively penalised for my actions in a game that boasts that the story is made and fashioned by the user...

Have you even played Mass Effect?...You do know Shepard IS the player character right? It should be pretty obvious that if you, the player, die at the end of the game, you won't be able to play as that same Shepard in ME 3...because he is dead...

Anyways this isn't even that big of a deal considering how you basically have to TRY to kill yourself on in the game. Pretty much the only way to die is to refuse to do any loyalty missions, not upgrade anything, and make all the wrong decisions at the end of the game.

Ok, you have me there, i havent played the game. But if you died wouldnt the whole game just end anyway? kind of makes this type of announcement pointless? If your main character dies ofc you wont be able to play in ME3 because, well, you were unable to finish ME2 because, well, you died halfway through?

No, it wasn't pointless. What they did with ME1 > ME2 is your save game from the first affects the second. The announcement basically says, to me, that this won't be allowed if your Shepard is dead, i.e. you would have to play at least ME2 again to get a continuable save.

Basically BioWare give small incentives for you playing the full trilogy with one character, and what they've said is that if your Shepard dies (i.e. gets the 'wrong' ending) in ME2 then your save will be useless for ME3. The impact ME1 had on ME2 was generally quite subtle from what I've seen (I've not played a new save in ME2, just used my old one) but from everything they've said it'll make a rather big impact in ME3.

So really it's just BioWare saying play their game properly and you'll be rewarded.

 

[Quad08]

People die when they are killed, get used to it.

Or if that dosen't make sense

Since YOU are Shepard, if Shepard dies then YOU die.

End of the road, no continuing. Makes perfect sense for Bioware to say this

okay.... but people can still start a new game right?, i mean you don't have to import your save >.>

They can also use that 'Import ME2 Character' option and play through it again and correct the mistakes they made.