Ray Muzyka said recently that Mass Effect 3 is probably the best entry point to the series. Could you expand on what that means, and explain how it jives with the fact that ME3 is the last in the trilogy and therefore banks heavily on the player’s emotional investment in the universe established in the previous two games?

Robyn: It’s a really great entry point because you’re starting at the break-out of the galactic war, so it allows you go out and rally your forces to save the galaxy, and in doing that you’re given a context to form strong relationships with the world and characters. On top of that, we’ve also got a new squad-mate – James Vega – who wasn’t around in the first or second games, and whose dialogue options provide a lot of information and backstory for new players.

So in terms of carry-over from previous games in the series, to what extent do your past decisions lock you into particular narrative arcs in ME3? Are players who made certain choices – like not saving the Council, for example – compelled to live with their consequences, or is there is a bit of scope to make up for past mistakes?

Robyn: I think there’s a lot of variation there, but obviously there are some choices that can’t be reversed. There are characters who might have died because of choices you made, and if they have, they’re not coming back – although that’s not to say there won’t be someone else there to replace them. You’ll definitely see the consequences of your choices, but as far as being locked-in, I think there’s usually some wiggle room there.

Speaking of dead characters, has there been any attempt to compensate for their absence? After all, it’s possible to get to the end of ME2 and end up with a crew of corpses – can they be replaced in some sense?

Robyn: You’ll encounter different characters, some new to the franchise, and you’ll be able to build relationships with them, but I don’t think “replaced” is the appropriate way to describe it. You know, with some of these characters, these relationships, you spend so much time on them, building them up, and I’m not sure they could ever really be replaced. At least not for me. Like, Ashley? If she died, I don’t think you could ever replace her, and I wouldn’t want to try.

How much of an impact did player feedback – both in the form of forums etc. and in the telemetry data – influence the course of ME3’s development? Were there any major changes made as a result of how the community reacted to certain features in ME and ME2?

Robyn: FemShep is a pretty good example. Fans asked us: “You’ve got an iconic male Shepard, so where’s the female version?” Okay – done. Now we have one. Multiplayer is another good example. A lot of our fans, the true hardcore RPG players, didn’t ask for it, but there were a lot of people who did. People who got a taste of the Mass Effect universe and wanted to enjoy it with their friends, to team up and fight these battles. Now they can do that. Romances too: a lot of the choices we made with the way romances play out in ME3 was influenced by what players told us they wanted.

How do you make an effective demo for a game as expansive and ambitious as ME3, particularly with the size limit restrictions imposed by XBL? How do you decide what aspects of the game to emphasise?

Robyn: It’s tough. It’s really tough to narrow it down and give players a taste of what they want. For returning fans it’s especially tough because they want to know what kind of impact their decisions will have on the game, but you can’t really show that in a demo. What we can do, though, is show how the combat works, give players an idea of what they’re getting into, and what to expect later on. There’s no exact method to it – for us it’s pretty much a process of testing, figuring out what works, what represents the game best, and then sticking with that.

And how has the response to the demo been so far, do you think?

Robyn: Really, really good! It’s been a really successful launch for the demo. I can’t talk specifics in terms of numbers, but we think it’s been a positive experience. We’re receiving a ton of feedback from our fans which we’re taking into consideration, especially for future DLC, but also in terms of addressing more immediate concerns too. Some people have complained about server problems, for example, and so that’s definitely something we’re looking into. The demo has generated a huge amount of feedback, and all of that comes across our desks at some point. We can’t act on all of it, but we do prioritise and try to address significant problems as quickly as we can.

Speaking of DLC, it was cited as the main reason ME3 moved from Steam to Origin. How do the two platforms differ in that respect, and in what ways did the switch impact your plans for the development and delivery of DLC?

Robyn: Well it’s an EA developed platform, so it makes sense it would be the best platform to distribute EA published games. Origin wasn’t developed by Bioware, so I can’t speak to specifics about how it runs, but in my experience it’s just a matter of logging in and playing the game. Obviously it’s a new platform, and it’s not perfect yet, so we’re very keen to hear fan feedback about it so that it can grow and keep getting better over time. We know people are used to Steam, but from our perspective, Origin really is the best way to deliver content for ME3.

Editor's note: Apologies if we didn't get to all your questions, we didn't have a whole lot of time and we had to focus on the ones that people asked the most. Thanks to everybody who submitted a question!