Mass Effect 2 character migration detailed

Straight from the mouth of Chris Priestly, Bioware's community coordinator:

"We know many fans of Mass Effect have been asking how their saved games would transfer between Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. We have put together details you need to know about transferring your saves between ME1 and ME2.

Save Game Import

* Upon starting a new game from the main menu, players can import a character save from Mass Effect 1

* The Player chooses which character to bring in. Bringing in more than one character is possible, this will create a second or additional profile(s), just like in Mass Effect 1.

* For Xbox 360 players need to be signed into your profile that you used to play through Mass Effect 1.

* On PC players will select the .MassEffectSave files to import.

* The profile and save data must be present on the hard drive and not an MU.

* There is a limit of 11 end-of-game saves that can be imported into ME2. This means that if the player was to complete ME1 12 times, regardless of the number of unique playthroughs used, the 12th save will not be available for import, but saves 1 through 11 will be available.

At this point we have revealed that the save game import system will carryover all your decisions and plot decisions from ME1 into ME2. Did you save the Council? Who survived Virmire? And how did you handle your most ardent fan? We don’t want to list everything out and spoil the surprises we have in store for you, but rest assured you will be pleased when you see just how much carries over into Mass Effect 2.

Up until now we have only discussed the plot impacts of this feature, however, there are also certain gameplay perks as well. If you finished ME1 as a high level character you will receive greater bonuses than those who finished at lower levels. Ex, if you finished ME1 as a level 35 character, you will receive a bonus, but if you finished ME1 as a level 50 character, your bonus will be larger. That being said these bonuses will not put new playthrough characters at a severe disadvantage. For example, some of these bonuses include a monetary boost at the start of the game, or additional research resources for use at the Normandy’s Tech Lab. Another perk is if you finished the game as a Paragon or Renegade, part of your alignment will carry over making it easier to access certain dialogue options.

Finally, some technical information regarding the feature as well. If players start a New Game + after beating the game they will be able to re-use the same character import file they did for their first playthrough. Yes New Game + is making a return to Mass Effect 2! Additionally as mentioned above, make sure you are playing on your Xbox 360 profile that you completed ME1 on and that the profile and save data is present on the Hard Drive and not a MU. If you want to do a quick check and make sure you are good to go, load up Mass Effect 1 and see if the New Game + option appears. That will let you know your save game is ready for Mass Effect 2.

We are definitely excited to share this brand new feature with everyone, and remember what you do in Mass Effect 2, will have consequences in Mass Effect 3!"

Mass Effect 2 launches January 29th in the UK.