LogInThe writer of the KOTOR and the first two Mass Effect games spoke about Garrus and Tali's relationship, shared how he would have finished Mass Effect 3, and explained why BioWare didn't make the KOTOR sequel.
Drew Karpyshyn, known as the writer of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the first two Mass Effect video games as well as the author of several books on Mass Effect and the Star Wars, recently held a Reddit AMA discussing some of his novels and games. Among others, he answered fans' questions regarding Mass Effect series.
When asked about Garrus and Tali's relationship, Karpyshyn shared that BioWare had always known that Tali and Garrus would return as companions in Mass Effect 2. However, he revealed that he was surprised that fans wanted to see their romance.
"Tali I could sort of see... you never saw her face, so it was easy to imagine something vaguely human. (But she had those weird feet!) Garrus blindsided me – but once we saw what fans wanted, we decided to deliver!" Karpyshyn said.
Speaking of how would he have concluded the Mass Effect trilogy if he had remained its screenwriter after Mass Effect 2, Karpyshyn replied that he actually had some ideas on this. According to the author, the ending would involve "luring the Reapers through the Mass Relays" and then blowing up the entire network to destroy them. At the same time, he would destroy or damage the relays and "isolate every galactic community from the others."
The actual finale of Mass Effect 3, which the players saw, is partially similar to the ideas of the writer as it also has the option of destroying the relays and then isolating the systems. However, Karpyshyn says that this kind of ending would involve several issues, for example, it could be difficult to continue the franchise following this ending.
The writer also touched upon the Knights of the Old Republic sequel (that eventually was developed by Obsidian Entertainment instead of BioWare). He shared that the BioWare team didn't even get to the pre-production stage of the game and, therefore, didn't create any ideas for the sequel. According to Karpyshyn, various potential partners and publishers wanted to release the second part of the game just a year after the first one, but the studio felt that this was not enough.
"Various partners (publishers, etc.) made it clear they wanted a sequel in 1 year, and we didn't feel that was realistic for the quality we wanted to deliver," Karpyshyn said. "So we never even started discussions about what we would do next."
You can learn more interesting facts about Drew Karpyshyn's novels and games by reading the full Reddit AMA here.