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- http://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/rcl7e/more_possible_leaked_information/
- Last night I leaked the only available digital details of Terminator and Mass
- Shift. After speaking with a close friend who is an attorney, I've decided
- to take the risk of of expounding.
- I am a virtual lightning technician who has been working for BioWare for over 8
- years now. I've been the sole creator of the lighting partitions of all of
- BioWare's engines and engine plugins in recent years. In layman's terms, I am
- a very specific kind of graphics artist.
- I am no longer a part of the companies in question.
- My reasoning for the leak was to draw attention to what BioWare has become. The
- company, for about 5 years now, has been dominated by EA Games' strict timetables
- and budget restraints. I'd like to express my continuing admiration of BioWare and
- the entirety of its staff--the most talented staff I've had the priviledge to work
- with in my career, which spans 19 years. My admiration for them is why I even
- bother to draw attention to the predicament that the company now faces.
- I am not a doomsayer. BioWare likely has a successful road ahead of them, but the
- money stops mattering so much when female colleagues get off the phone with EA
- upper management crying over threats of replacement. The success stops mattering
- when a dark cloud hangs over a team that is doing the best with the restraints
- that have been placed upon them. Nothing was more heartbreaking than the moment
- when Dragon Age 2, which was not yet in alpha status, was shipped out the
- door. I thought that was a one-time thing, but it is becoming clear that that was
- just the beginning.
- To the staff: Though you and I are both under contract, know that EA will not
- pursue you if you simply stand together. You are the most talented people in the
- industry and every publisher would be honored to have you.
- To the fans: Please do not be discouraged by what little PR EA allows to get out.
- You haven't spoken to BioWare, the real meat of the company, in over 5 years.
- BioWare is still full of people who love video games, who want to put passion into
- their games--but they are being stifled. Don't be angry with BioWare. Be angry
- with those who are stifling them. But your anger isn't enough. Speak with your
- money. It's the only language EA Games understands. I know it can be very hard to
- resist falling for pre-order and DLC ploys, but it must be done. Your forum posts
- and petitions are meaningless when compared to the simple dollar.
- --
- I'd like to clarify some things about the leak:
- - The leak is the content of a digital blackboard we have at the office. It's the
- first thing you see when you walk into Production. It's right next to our
- storyboards. Only the director and writers can edit the outline, but the entire
- team is asked to make suggestions throughout development. The outline always
- changes dramatically during development. Sometimes, major plot twists are totally
- changed, or characters are removed. Generally, the artists and the director have
- the final say. You may think that it's odd that artists have so much power, but
- throwing away completed models and other assets that have consumed a lot of time
- is frowned upon. If they've worked on something long enough, they are going to
- implement it somehow.
- - Like in most development cycles, the outline is relatively abandoned right now,
- replaced by the storyboards. But I can't exactly take the storyboards off of the
- walls and scan them.
- - Terminator is a post-ending DLC. It's been in production for months. Javik was
- originally from Terminator, but they bumped him up because they felt that ME3's
- cast was too small. Terminator is about the party crash landing on a Prothean
- planet on the edge of Sol, and then they have to figure out a way to make contact
- with the rest of the system and get off of the planet.
- - When they do get spaceborne, they return to Earth, which is gripped in a war.
- Certain species are demanding they be allowed to take the most advanced space
- ships out of the system, because Sol cannot support them. There is also mass panic
- because the relay transport system has been destroyed, and Sol's remaining resources
- are going to run out in less than a year.
- - Shepard has been found on Earth, but he is badly injured and in a coma. He was
- burned badly during atmospheric re-entry, and certain synthetic components of his
- brain were shut down. Chakwas is certain that if he ever awakens, it will be in a
- vegetative state.
- - At this point, it is suggested that Shepard's broken synthetic parts could be
- replaced with new ones. The party then splits up, and you go to three different
- planets/areas to find synthetic components that may be able to help him.
- - It is revealed that one of the valid components can be extracted from EDI. Joker
- allows them to do so.
- y.m. !ad7SQLiiVQ 03/25/12(Sun)04:42 No.2441128
- - Though still badly wounded, after the synthetic pieces are installed, Shepard
- finally awakens. He makes a speech at the Spacescraper (a piece of the Citadel
- that crash landed on Earth along with Shepard, now used as a center of
- operations) that ends the Sol War. After that, you get a unique cutscene based
- on who you did or did not romance in ME3.
- - This is not addressed in the Terminator DLC, but from the moment Shepard comes
- out of the coma, he is the Catalyst. Shepard permanently died during atmospheric
- re-entry. The characters and the player in Terminator are unaware that it is not
- the real Shepard, and this will not be revealed until Mass Shift, the spiritual
- successor to the Mass Effect series.
- - Mass Shift is not Mass Effect 4. Mass Shift will involve the same universe,
- characters, and story, but it will be more action-oriented. Space flight, for
- example, will be as intricate as ME3's combat. In Mass Shift, you will actively fly
- Murmur, a Reaper that is controlled by the Catalyst. Storyboards have not been
- drawn up for exactly how this will work yet, but when we came up with the initial
- concept, we were comparing flight to "Gradius III and Kingdom Hearts 2", and the
- relationship between the Catalyst and Murmur was compared to the one between the
- boy and the monster in "The Last Guardian".
- - Xy was actually going to be a DLC character for Mass Effect 2, but he was axed in
- favor of Kasumi, who was modeled after the sister of a staff member who kept baking
- the entire staff cookies. They're introducing him in Mass Shift instead.
- y.m. !ad7SQLiiVQ 03/25/12(Sun)04:43 No.2441150- BioWare has been meaning to introduce a main character suicide plot element for some
- time now. They intended to do this with Kaidan/Ashley in Mass Effect 2, wrought with
- guilt over the death of the other, but this idea was discarded when the director felt
- that it would be too forced, and that players would feel as though BioWare simply
- killed them off so that they wouldn't have to deal with their character branches
- anymore.
- - Though the details are very sketchy at this point, Mass Shift revolves around
- the Catalyst (who now inhabits the body of Shepard), who seeks to prevent the
- galaxy from advancing synthetics. This pits the Catalyst against virtually the
- entire galaxy, which is quickly forgetting about the threat that synthetics pose.
- The Catalyst, throughout the game, will endure inner turmoil caused by
- his "other side" (EDI), who carries the belief that synthetics and organics can
- peacefully co-exist.
- - Mass Shift will feature more tactical combat, but with less cover. For example,
- Filbert, while slow on the battlefield, can create a sphere of biotic energy around
- himself that can repel a certain amount of fire. This will allow party members to
- stand around him to receive all kinds of interesting "buffs".
- - Other minor things have changed. For example, storyboards indicate that Asad
- Grim, Mass Shift's primary (but not final--he joins your team) antagonist does not
- wear a typical Volus suit. You will be able to see most of his body.
- - Mass Shift takes place about one millennium after the events of ME3.
- - Note that branching is the last stage of development. BioWare always begins with
- a canonical outline, and then adjusts the outline details to accommodate player
- choice in most scenarios.
- y.m. !ad7SQLiiVQ 03/25/12(Sun)04:53 No.2441505Witch Hunt is a Dragon Age DLC. It caused an in-house ****storm because of canon
- issues. An employee quit over it. It's used as a reference for how to "correctly"
- deal with design plans that may interfere with player choice. It has nothing to do
- with Mass Effect.
- I don't know what Dragon Age: Return is, but Dragon Age 3 is codename "Redfish" right
- now. It's in development.
- This is the last you will hear from me. Bye.
- A user on GameFaq called "Chickenhawked" said once that he was a "virtual lightning technician" and had been working with companies like SquareSoft, Bioware and Blizzard. His style of posting is similar to the supposed leaker.http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/619315-final-fantasy-xiii-2/61910317?page=1 Here he states that he's a lighting technician and brags about it a bit.http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/619315-final-fantasy-xiii-2/61842062?page=2 Here he writes about having worked with Bioware/Blizzard and so on.He also managed to spell "lighting" wrong once, which makes me more suspicious.So either this is a top notch elite troll. Or an actual worker.
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