Mass Effect 2 Will Reset Shepard's Abilities

BioWare is planning to do quite a bit of innovation to the concept of the role playing with Mass Effect 2. Most of the choices made in the first title in the trilogy will have a direct effect on the sequel.

The combat system and the dialogue mechanics have been refined in order to allow players a wider array of experiences and to introduce more moral nuances. But at least one trope of the RPG sequel seems to have remained intact. BioWare has made clear that all the abilities gamers playing as Shepard had in the original release will be reset and they will have to regain them throughout the course of the game.

Casey Hudson, who is the lead designer on Mass Effect 2, told Computerworld about the loss of abilities that “it's something we can't go into detail about for obvious reasons, but it actually happens the other way around. Our goal with the story, in terms of getting the game started quickly and players into really compelling story situations... that dictated and allowed us to do certain things including changing the way that your abilities work and the way you develop your character.”

Of course, the main reason is that the various magic-like powers the character can acquire have certainly been changed, with some old ones being eliminated and some new ones added. The abilities reset will not affect those choices that do not grant an ability, like the Renegade/Paragon level or the overall level of the character when having completed the first Mass Effect.

It appears that the abilities reset is pretty much necessary to make Mass Effect 2 perfect but BioWare needs to make sure that the way in which it is handled in game makes sense story-wise. Players would be hugely disappointed if, say, Shepard gets amnesia and needs to relearn his powers all over again.