SFX: In Mass Effect 2 you have an ensemble team, that you build up. A lot of people’s games ended with most of them dying! Are those players going to be at a disadvantage with Mass Effect 3?
Hudson: It’s definitely beneficial to have more of your squad members survive! We also try to strive for differences versus penalties or bonuses, so the choices that you’ve made previously don’t necessarily make a worse or better Mass Effect 3 experience; they make it different in ways that are equally satisfying. But with people it’s the more the merrier; but we do try to find a way to give a pay off that’s different because the fun then is to say “I’ll play my play-through when everybody is there” or “this time I’ll play my other play-through where everybody died” so that it is different and fans appreciate and enjoy those differences so that is an equally enjoyable place.
 
SFX: Is there anything you can tell us about the new character we’re going to see?
Hudson: The story of Mass Effect 3 is a lot more authentic to a war story. So people are wrong to think, “Who are the permanent squad members?” Permanent friends in a war story betrays the concept! So we will be adding people and taking people away. All your friends from previous Mass Effect games will be there somewhere – if they’re alive! And James Vega is one of the new guys you pick up with you as you’re escaping from Earth. He’s interesting because we haven’t had somebody like this before – he is not as worldly as some of the other characters we’ve met. He’s an Alliance Marine, maybe like a younger version of Shepard.
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