The commanders of the SSV Normandy is reuniting for this year's Mass Effect-inspired N7 Day, including the voices of male and female Shepard Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale, respectively. Meer and Hale have announced a "special panel" to celebrate N7 day on Saturday, November 7. The announcement has rekindled some hope for the announcement of a potential Mass Effect remaster, although details remain sparse.
Bioware's original Mass Effect launched in November 2007 to universal acclaim, and quickly became the poster child for player-choice affected gameplay. It was followed in quick succession by two sequels, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, to similar success. However, cracks in the series began to show in the last act of Mass Effect 3, with an ending that was controversially panned by many in the community as unsatisfying and inconclusive. While the Shepard storyline wrapped in with Mass Effect 3, a fourth sequel with a separate storyline, Andromeda, was released to mixed reviews. But despite Mass Effect's critical burnout, its fanbase, even those who lambasted Mass Effect 3's ending, continued to participate in what became N7 Day, a yearly reunion of players who celebrate the franchise every November 7th. Rumors of a Mass Effect remaster have already started to circulate in recent months, confirmed by everyone except distributor EA, so the timing of this announcement has players particularly intrigued.
The fact that the Shepard storyline ended in 2013 makes it all the more interesting that Shepard's male and female voice actors have announced their participation in this year's N7. Joining them for the mystery panel, as announced by Hale and Meer on Twitter, are Raphael Sbarge (Kaiden Alenko), Kimberly Brooks (Ashley Williams), Ali Hillis (Liara T'Soni), Courtney Taylor (Jack), William Salyers (Mordin Solus), Alix Wilton Regan (Traynor), D.C. Douglas (Legion), and Steve Blum (Grunt), in addition to original series writers/developers Patrick and Karin Weekes. The panel is scheduled to take place this Saturday at 11AM, PST, although the link to the panel has not been provided as of yet. The panel will be recorded, so those who miss the live stream will be able to watch later.
While Shepard appears in audio logs in Mass Effect: Andromeda, none of the other voice actors do, so a reunion of the original cast would be a heartwarming gathering at least, especially a symbolic 7 years later. But the inclusion of Patrick and Karin Weekes, the two developers who worked on the original Mass Effect trilogy, but not Andromeda does seem to hint at something more. The participants are all very tight-lipped, and there's no other information about the panel other than the date and time, so all that's available at present is speculation.
A remake of the Mass Effect trilogy would definitely go a long way in repairing Bioware's rather fractured relationship with its fanbase, and it's not such an unrealistic idea, considering how often games are getting remade. While players won't know for sure until Saturday whether or not a remake is in the works, a chance to hang out with some familiar faces (and voices) will make for a pretty awesome N7 Day nonetheless.
Next: How Mass Effect 5 Can Be Better Than Andromeda
Source: Jennifer Hale, Mark Meer
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