ME3 wins 2012 VGA for Best RPG!

I had never watched the Video Game Awards before. If I had, I would have known about the “Character of the Year” nominee clips. And I absolutely loved these:


Somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy, playing ME3 multiplayer…

BroShep: Phantom on your left flank!

Garrus: Bam! Headshot!

FemShep: Nice!

BroShep: That’s why the VGA nominated me for “Character of the Year”.

FemShep: Nominated us. Let’s not forget who has the highest N7 ranking here.

Garrus: (sighs) You two hotshots done comparing the size of your N7s?

FemShep: Aw, c’mon, you're not jealous, are you, Garrus?

Garrus: When are the VGAs anyway?

BroShep: What?

FemShep: Aw, crap!

FemShep & BroShep: I should go.

Garrus: Uh, a little help? (Character gets killed by an Atlas.) Sonnuva--

BroShep: Congrats on the win, Commander Shepard.

FemShep: You, too, Commander Shepard.

Garrus: (sighs) Seriously?

FemShep: (laughs) Sorry, Garrus.  You have to admit, it's quite an honour.

BroShep: It's quite an award.  Where're we gonna put that bad boy?

FemShep: I know the perfect spot.

BroShep: Great!  Bring it by when we're done playing, wouldja?

FemShep: Bring what by?  You had it last.

BroShep: No, I gave it to you.

FemShep: I don't think so!

BroShep: I handed it to you right after we walked offstage!

FemShep: And when we got on the shuttle, you had it.

BroShep: Yes, but you were the one showing it to the crew!

FemShep: (sighs I never should've let you hold it.

(Camera zooms in on the missing award sitting beside a silent Garrus.)

This is terrible.

I blame Chris Hepler, who was responsible for the Galaxy Map and, ostensibly, for naming most of the planets. And yes, I did read all his painstakingly detailed planetary descriptions. This particular fiasco came about after several visits to the Elcor homeworld. I, therefore, bestow the dubious honour of dedicating this to Mr. Hepler: I simply had to write the lyrics down to get the song out of my head. Forgive me.

Argos Rho
(Sung to the tune of “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys)

Dekuuna, Omega
Ooo I wanna take ya to
Tevura, Tuchanka
Cruisin’ in a tomka
Sylsalto, Trategos,
Baby why don’t we coast
Omega...

One jump from Sha-adow Sea
There’s a place called Argos Rho
That’s where you wanna go to get away from it all
Fossils in the sand
Kakliosaur skull on planet scan
We’ll be falling in love
While in orbit, we won’t need to land
Down in Argos Rho

Chorus:
Dekuuna, Omega
Ooo I wanna take ya to
Tevura, Tuchanka
Cruisin’ in a tomka
Sylsalto, Trategos,
Baby why don’t we coast
Down to Argos Rho
We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Argos Rho

I’m such a geek-- blame Mass Effect’s mystique...

At light velocity
Or even faster, if that’s your speed,
By and by we’ll defy a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight
Cocktails in mid-spaceflight
Your sunset-coloured eyes
Give me a Drellian contact high
As we fly through Argos Rho

Solu Paolis, I wanna catch a glimpse

[Exuberant saxophone solo]

Everybody knows
A cluster just like Argos Rho
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Argos Rho

Chorus

The systems are comprised mostly of gas or ice giants and uninhabitable planets, anyway.

Post-ME3 Universe? Problematic.

@CaseyDHudson: Parsing through your thoughts on the next ME game. Would you be more interested in a game that takes place before the trilogy, or after?

As long as a high quality of writing is maintained and internal logic is preserved, to me, it doesn't matter when the game takes place. However, there are two significant issues that need to be dealt with, should a post-trilogy game be created.

1.Schrödinger's Shepard: While Shepard's death is irrefutable in both the Synthesis and Refusal endings, her fate is less certain in the Control ending and even less so in the Destroy ending. Given a Destroy plot state, the developers will have to decide whether or not Shepard survived her ordeal on the Citadel beyond that single intake of breath and determine subsequent details of historical import, such as age at death, name of spouse, and number of progeny. With Liara T'soni's penchant for preservation, particularly of anything pertaining to Shepard, she would ensure those biographic details would survive for a significant period of time. This will need to be accounted for by the developers. My suggestion would be that, if Shepard survived (and make no mistake:  this option will need to be made available in order to avoid a repetition of the backlash encountered after releasing ME3), she and her love interest would disappear (with the aid of the Shadowbroker, of course) to live out their days in some place warm so as to avoid being targeted by mercenaries out to prove themselves, Batarians still holding a grudge, and the Conrad Verners of the galaxy.

2. A Badder Big Boss: It would be difficult to conceive of an enemy more threatening than the Reapers. Battling the Reapers required uniting a galaxy. It is hard to imagine what it would require to fight a force surpassing the Reapers and any post-ME3 game would require a force at least equal to the Reapers, given a Control or Synthesis plot state. Furthermore, the distinctive appearance of Reaper troops made foe identification easy, which would be an additional requirement of a new enemy.

One possibility would be the Leviathans, but their numbers would need to increase in order to pose a viable threat. Also, due to the Leviathan Codex, the other races would know to give them a wide berth to avoid enthrallment, and without thralls, the Leviathans would not be able to secure the resources required to regain their status as the apex race. Another possibility might be the Yahg. However, now that the Alliance and the Council have intelligence regarding the secret Salarian up-lift process, this pre-spaceflight species would likely be kept in check. The Batarians have effectively been wiped out, so it is unlikely they will ever pose a threat. The Vorcha are a third possibility, with their rapid adaptability and the other races' tendency to be dismissive of their cognitive capabilities. However, gamers' need for novelty must be addressed and shooting Vorcha for hour on end would hardly satisfy that need. A controversial possibility would be humans, but after having battled Cerberus troops, that experience might no longer be considered novel. One tantalizing possibility would be aliens from another galaxy, but they would have to be very different from anything seen before and the motivations for their hostility would have to be carefully considered so the developers do not repeat themselves. Otherwise, the experience would be as satisfying as watching the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers slowly come to the inevitable realisation that they will have to form a Megazord to defeat their latest adversary.

My own opinion is that knowing the outcome of the Rachni Wars or the ultimate fate of Archangel's squad on Omega would not diminish the enjoyment I would derive from a game. As with reading my favourite books, I've lost count of the number of times I've played through ME2 and ME3. The immersive quality of the universe, the chance to escape and spend time adventuring with memorable characters, that is what I play for.

Of course, I'm an old-fashioned girl and I don't know if my demographic holds a greater market share than that of modern-day youngsters with foreshortened attention spans and rapacious appetites for anything new.

John Dombrow, My Favourite BioWare Writer

John Dombrow is a Senior Writer at BioWare and was responsible for not only writing the scenes and dialogue for the character of Garrus Vakarian in Mass Effect 3, but for writing Priority: Tuchanka, arguably the best-conceived mission in the Mass Effect universe.

A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, his other recent work includes:

Video Games
1. Mass Effect 3 (2012)

Missions

• Grissom Academy:  Emergency Evacuation (Initial Development)
• Priority:  Sur'Kesh (Writer)
• Priority:  Thessia (Writer)
• Leviathan DLC (Supervising Writer) 

Characters 

• Javik, From Ashes DLC

2. Mass Effect 2 (2010)

Missions

• Overlord DLC (Writer)

Publications

• [Walters, Mac (w), John Dombrow (w), Jeremy Barlow (w), Garry Brown (a).]  "A Bullet for Your Sins." Mass Effect: Homeworlds #3 (Jul 2012), Dark Horse Comics.

Links
April 2012 PAX East Panel Appearance [24:13]
April 2012 Badass Digest Interview with Alex Riviello
April 2012 BioWare Interview
November 2007 G4TV Interview with Jose Sanchez
IMDb Entry

TRIVIA: Mr. Dombrow also writes screenplays for horror movies.  One script, "Holy Blood", was originally optioned by Jean-Claude Van Damme for a year, but, unfortunately, never saw production.

Questions I wish I could ask him:

1. You attended Loyola Marymount University, an institution founded in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions. When playing the Overlord DLC, the Christian iconography was unmistakable. How much, if at all, does religion influence your writing?

2. In addition to Science Fiction, you also write Horror. Do you have a preferred genre? As a screenwriter, is there a particular story that you would love to tell?

3. The X-files appears to have strongly influenced your writing, from the Leviathan DLC to the title of your screenplay, "The Sixth Extinction". Is this a fair interpretation? What are your influences and has there been one work that profoundly changed your worldview?

4. What has been the highlight of your career so far? What was the low-point and how did you get through it?

5. You mentioned in other interviews that you listen to soundtracks when writing. What soundtracks were you listening to for Priority: Tuchanka? Priority: Sur'Kesh? Priority: Thessia? the rafter scene with Garrus?

6. Do you notice a difference in your process when writing for female characters? Is there anything you find difficult to write?

7. Jennifer Hale mentioned in her Nerd Appropriate interview, and I'm paraphrasing here, that of all the romance farewell dialogue options, the lines exchanged with Garrus in particular struck an emotional chord with an authenticity that made them difficult to read through.  How did those lines come about?

8. What do you imagine the Danori Spires on Palaven look like? And what was that dying Cerberus trooper trying to say to Commander Shepard on Sur'Kesh?

9. When playing through the series, what key choices would constitute your ideal play-through?
a. Male or Female Shepard?
b. Kaidan or Ashley on Virmire?
c. To romance or not to romance, and if yes, who and when?
d. Kill or spare the Rachni queen?
e. Of course you're going to save Wrex. Next question.
f. Save the Council?
g. Councilor Anderson or Udina?
h. Yes, yes. Save Maelon's data. Moving on.
i. Khalisa Bint Sinan Al-Jilani: Minor annoyance or talking punching bag?
j. How many squadmates accompany you through the Omega 4 relay? Which ones?
k. Who do you send into the shaft on the Collector Base?
l. Who do you get to lead the second distraction team?
m. Who joins your squad when you face the human neoreaper?
n. Destroy the Collector base or hand it over to Cerberus?
o. For Krogan paeans or for the war effort?
p. Would you have considered the Salarian deal?
q. If it came down to it, would you have shot your friend?
r. Ruthless calculus of war: are you up for that?
s. Who do you take with EDI to Cronos Station?
t. Who joins your squad in the final push to the beam?
u. Control, destroy, synthesize or refuse?

10. What is your alcoholic beverage of choice? (Drinks are on me for putting up with my inane questions.)

And this is why I love Jennifer Hale...

To my chagrin, my voice is only suited for seducing Salarians. But this woman...