O Mass Effect Legendary Edition will allow fans of the franchise to experience the original trilogy with a new coat of paint when it arrives later this year, including the most critically acclaimed game in the Mass Effect 2 series. Fans are eager to see team members like Garrus, Thane , Jack, Kasumi and more, although in a new interview some interesting details about the changes made to Jack’s character came to the fore. In a new interview with The Gamer, Mass effect Lead writer Brian Kindregan revealed that Jack should identify himself as pansexual, but that changed after a substantial amount of development had already been done in the game thanks to criticism from Fox News.
“I was trying to draw the arc of [Jack’s] romance, which during much of the development – in fact, it was too late that it became a male / female romance only, ”said Kindregan. “She was essentially pansexual during most of the development of this novel.”
That changed after Fox News started discussing the game’s approach to sex and the fact that it included a non-hetero romance option.
“Mass Effect had been criticized in a really unfair way in the USA by Fox News, which at the time … maybe more people in the world thought there was a connection between reality and what is discussed on Fox News,” said Kindregan. “The Mass Effect 2 development team was a very progressive and open-minded team, but I think there was a concern at very high levels that [the first] Mass Effect, who only had a gay relationship, Liara – who on paper was not technically a gay relationship because she was a kind of unique gender – I think there was a concern that if it had caused a fire, Mass Effect 2 would have to be a little careful. “
Jack Courtenay actress Taylor also confirmed that the character was pansexual, and that’s how she played her.
“It’s funny to me because I always understood that she was pansexual,” said Taylor. “So I don’t know if this is just something I inferred from the character or something she said that maybe it was cut. I was surprised that there was no female romance possible, because that was my understanding. I think it was time, you know? That was, what – 2008/2009? The industry has changed exponentially since then, and BioWare was leading the way. I don’t know if it was a budget constraint or maybe someone saying ‘this is very obvious’ because everyone said ‘of course she is a lesbian’. But my feeling has always been that she was [pansexual] and it just wasn’t followed. Of course, the community modified it immediately so you can do it your way. “
Kindregan said, “It wasn’t like a senior anti-gay person on the Mass Effect 2 team said, ‘We’re not going to have that.’ In short, many of us were asked very late to focus relationships on a more traditional type of vector. “
The decision was made in the middle of development, so there are still snippets of dialogue that reflect the original version of the character, and many were surprised to find that their female Shepard couldn’t end a relationship with her.
“I definitely heard a lot from people who were surprised that Jack ended up not opening up to it,” said Kindregan. “I understand why. I would say that there were many seeds planted in her conversations that certainly indicated that she was pansexual – she once specifically referred to being part of a thrupple. She says there was a guy and a woman she was running away with who invited her to her robberies and to bed. She definitely refers to these things. This was explicitly to start sending the message that yes, this is a character who is pansexual. In the eleventh hour review of the cleaning, it had already been partially recorded with the narration. Not all of that could be changed. “
“I would say that even with the things I could change, and I don’t know if that was the right decision or not, I still saw her as a character with an advantage,” says Kindregan. “Not nervous, but with an advantage of not following traditional norms. I think I must have, even during the review process, kept some of those things there with a kind of feeling, yes, this is a person who has been around and done a lot of things, left the farm and went to Paris. “
“I worked with lesbian developers who came up to me and said, ‘Why isn’t Jack in the mood for me?'” Kindregan said. “And I have to say, ‘I’m sorry, it’s partly my fault.’ But I still maintain the idea of keeping it with a more varied background. Perhaps one day Jack will be portrayed as a pot. “
Should Bioware honor Jack’s original vision in the next legendary edition? Let us know in the comments, and as always you can chat, k all about Mass Effect with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!