JK wrote:Does that mean we get a new character following Shepherd's path ala KOTOR 2 and Deus Ex 2 I wonder?

Hopefully if that is the case we'll actually get a satsifying ending (or in the case of KOTOR 2 a game they actually bothered to finish.)

By now, you may have seen the Mass Effect 2 teaser trailer released by Bioware last Friday, but if not...

(Video)

From the video, you can can only conclude one thing... You can't conclude anything (Oh, and be prepared for SPOILERS for the first Mass Effect below).

Mass Effect 2 is still a long ways away and speculation is running rampant, especially after the release of the new teaser trailer and a few other hints dropped by Bioware. There's not much garnered from the trailer; the current status of presumably Commander Shepard is "Killed in Action," and a Geth Armature is sporting a portion of what appears to be the Normandy's outer hull as its armor.

Bioware is currently appeasing gamers craving for more information to save onto their Mass Effect 1 gamer data, specifically if you've completed a playthrough already. Be cautious if you plan on transferring hard drives soon, or have already, to upload your save data from previous your hard drive to your new hard drive.

Here are a few story ideas I speculated from the video:

1. This is an Alliance in-game speculation video, speculating the fate of Shepard, which then gamers speculate on. Meaning, Shepard disappeared between the first and second Mass Effects, pursuing the Geth into unknown space, leaving those within the Alliance, and all of space for that matter, to speculate on the fate of the first human Spectre. When a Geth appears with the Normandy as its hot new clothing accessory, everyone assumes Shepard is dead. Meanwhile, Shepard is back in the outer rim of planets where he/she (depending on your choice) was ambushed and crash landed on an unknown planet and amnesia (Ah good ol' gaming cliché) kicks in and ala Metroid Prime loses all his/her powers/weapons essentially restarting your character, though saving your character's back story and appearance (I can't be the only one who took more than an hour scuplting the perfect look for their character).

2. You play as Shepard's kid, sharing the same appearance (Explaining the need for the saved game data), as you search for your mother/father who was killed by the Geth and seek revenge (With all that hot alien unprotected sex it was bound to happen).

3. Liara was actually the one killed in action (Again, the unprotected sex. What may be a burning sensation to us, could be killer to an Asari).

4. You start as a new character, another prospect for spectre Status who is ordered to search for Shepard, long believed to have been killed by Geth. You later find him/her, and your character from Mass Effect 1 is now an ally character opposed to being a main character.

5. Face it, you're starting out as a new character in Mass Effect 2 (See Knights of the Old Republic 2). Shepard, by the end of Mass Effect 1, was capable of blowing away Geth armies single-handedly. With the vast amount of configurations of abilities you gain through the game and the various paths that affected the ending, it would be difficult to keep every gamer's data in sync with any new story involving Shepard as the main character. Your choices in the first Mass Effect are incoporated, however they're somewhat minor, such as the choice of Udina or Anderson as Council Seat, which is only a different choice in dialogue. You run into previous characters from the first Mass Effect (Unless Wrex met an unfortunate end).

Be sure to include your own theories in the comments section.