With theMass Effect: Legendary Editionset to remaster all three games in the beloved original trilogy,Mass Effect 2’s lead writer Mac Walters recently shed some light on some of theearlyMEcharacter conceptsthat didn’t make it into the final game, or were reworked into other characters. There’s no doubt that countless sci-fi stories have been inspired byStar Warsever since the iconic film series hit the silver screen in 1977.
Considering the many differences betweenMass EffectandStar Wars, however, many fans may be surprised at just how much influence was taken from the series during the game’s early development.Star WarsinfluencedMass Effect 2’s initial character concepts in many, many ways.
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The Many Influences Of Mass Effect 2
Mac Walters recently discussed the “legacy party members doc,” which contained many initial concepts for the characters who would accompany Shepard onMass Effect 2’s suicide missionto the Omega Relay. These character concepts were very early stages. Many didn’t have their relationships with other characters or the player fleshed out in any way yet, and some didn’t even have a species, being listen simply as “NEW ALIEN.”
Many of these early ideas make direct reference to real people or characters from other media. There’s a “classic stoner"Salarianscientist influenced by Tommy Chong ofCheech and Chongfame. Others took influence from characters likeThe Princess Bride’s Inigo Montoya, Stephen the Irishman from the movieBraveheart, and the titular main characters ofButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. There are a few key references toStar Warsthroughout the doc that show just how often the writers turned to the iconic series for inspiration.
One cut character that anyStar Warsfan will immediately recognize from the name alone was the “Cordial Smuggler.” The idea with this Han Solo-esqueMass Effect 2character was that, instead of being recruited by Shepard, he would seek the player out himself after hearing rumors ofShepard’s return from deathitself and their exploits across the galaxy. This character would have opened the door to a vast criminal underworld and would be the player’s guide in “the dark underbelly of black market society.”
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Mass Effect and Star Wars
The brief description of the Cordial Smuggler given in the doc even directly describes him as having the “free spirit ofHan Solowith [the] naive enthusiasm of Luke Skywalker.” Like Han, he would have been a source of comic relief as well, bouncing off of the hard-headed characters of Shepard’s crew.
The second majorStar Wars-influenced character would have been “the Fallen Paragon.” TheStar Warslink is once again made clear in the doc, where they are found in a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” likeMos Eisley inA New Hope. Although this character didn’t make it into the final game, the desire for a black market and a “wretched hive” certainly did.
Mass Effect 2’s Omegamay not be on an isolated desert planet, but it seemingly helped realize some of theStar Wars-influenced ideas that were bouncing around in the early development ofMass Effect 2.It seems quite likely that the Fallen Paragon would have been found on Omega, and that the Cordial Smuggler might have been able to help Shepard find their way around the space station. The resemblance between Omega andStar Trek’s Deep Space 9 station from the show of the same name is another reminder the mixing and matching of influences that helped bringMass Effect 2to life, and which many fans will be looking forward to seeing once again when theMass Effect: Legendary Editionhits the shelves later this year.
Mass Effect Legendary Editionwill be available May 14 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
