When BioWare first announced the Mass Effect trilogy, they trumpeted the fact that you would to able to import your save file from one game to the next, allowing your character, Commander Shepard, to remain persistent throughout the series. However, the developers never fully explained how that process would work. They dropped hints that the choices you made in one game would have repercussions in the sequels. But would you also retain Shepard's stats, weapons, armor, and companions?

With the impending release of Mass Effect 2 this January, I asked BioWare Co-Founder Dr. Ray Muzyka at a preview event held Tuesday night in San Francisco if he could explain what the transfer process will entail:

Obviously, you're playing as Commander Shepard, but you're playing in a different kind of scenario than you might expect. Some pretty shocking stuff happens at the beginning of the game that puts everything else in context.

But certainly the choices you made in the first game are translated over if you import a saved game from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2. The companions you met, what happened to them, did they live or die, the end-game scene in terms of what happened to the Council, a lot of the bigger choices you make -- even the smaller characters you meet along the way are reflected in Mass Effect 2.

Translation: Your skills, weapons, and other effects won't carry over. But your actions will.

To illustrate this point, Muzyka showed us a scene from Mass Effect 2 that can play out in two very different ways depending on how you handled a pivotal moment in Mass Effect 1 with party member Wrex.

One last important note to those of you itching to import your saves into Mass Effect 2: You'll have to finish Mass Effect 1 first. Mass Effect 2 accesses a specific save file from the ME1 end-game, so if you haven't beaten the game yet, you better hurry up and do it before Mass Effect 2's January 26 release date.

Don't miss our huge interview with Muzyka to learn more about what you can expect from Mass Effect 2.