The Mass Effect Thread

[Kaney]

I hate that I haven't been able to play this at all since it came out. I hope you guys are still up for mutli when i get back on Sunday, and I can't believe people have finished this already.

I dont want to spoil shit or anything but can you guys at least reassure me that the rest of the game is fantastic, even if the ending is shit? I thought the first game was the best, the second was excellent as well but so far, and I'm only at the first priority mission, it seems too actiony and not enough rpgy.

[Benji]

Oh yeah, the rest of the game is pretty fantastic. The only real complaint I had outside the ending was to do with former squad members (spoilerish on who joins you as a squad member)...

The lack of former squad members joining up with you again is a bit frustrating, especially the fact I didn't have a single Krogan despite having both Wrex and Grunt still alive.

[DavidMarrio]

Kaney when you've done the first two priority missions it'll open up more. I've hardly done anything apart from side missions really this game save is gonna be really long I can't go through the game and try and get it done as quick as possible, I always end up taking my time on Mass Effect just wandering around doing side quests and talking to random people.

[SRN]

A few spoilers follow. (Answer to Nick)

Honestly, the more I think about the ending, the less I like it. However, I am going to reserve complete judgment until I've completed it a few times. But I can sort of reason what the whole "bleakness" of all the endings is to make the point that the Reapers CAN'T be stopped otherwise simply because the whole point of the galaxy and its evolution depends on what the Catalyst and the Reaps do every 50,000 years, and thus Shepard and his fleet of angry aliens are actually the bad guys. I don't necesarily agree with this being a good explanation for the rather dumb ending but still.

Oh yeah, the rest of the game is pretty fantastic. The only real complaint I had outside the ending was to do with former squad members (spoilerish on who joins you as a squad member)...

The lack of former squad members joining up with you again is a bit frustrating, especially the fact I didn't have a single Krogan despite having both Wrex and Grunt still alive.

I honestly don't see this complaint; you have Tali, Kaidan/Ashley, Garrus, Liara (even EDI could be counted), plus a new one that actually make perfect sense (James Vega). I would rather argue that weren't near enough returning members in Mass Effect 2 but than again, the story in that game made much more sense in that respect. To me, the amount of run-ins you have with all of your previous squadmembers (even the DLC ones) more than makes up for it.

[Herr Matzat]

The Mass Effect 3 Datapad is out now for iOS. You can raise your galactic readiness by sending out fleets all over the place. You also get some mail from characters on what you have don while playing. It´s a bit unresponsive at times, but a neat free little extra.

[Herr Matzat]

Question about the human council member.

Why is Udina on the council? Did they ever explain this? I choose anderson and am kind of disapointed that Udina is in just because they needed him to be in for the story they wanted to tell.

[mystikz]

Question about the human council member.

Why is Udina on the council? Did they ever explain this? I choose anderson and am kind of disapointed that Udina is in just because they needed him to be in for the story they wanted to tell.

it wasn't explained too well, basically Anderson quit after Arrival to rejoin the Alliance and help prepare for the Reapers. I suppose it makes sense but it also seemed like another case of your choice not mattering. It was barely brought up that Anderson had left the Council. You'd think they could have found someone better than Udina.

[The Sandman]

Getting closer to the end, 30 hours on the clock. It's been fantastic.

Spoilers and thoughts ahead...

Tali without a mask.

Death count rising: (so far)

Mordin, Thane, Kelly Chambers, Udina and Legion.

Mordin's death reminded me of Dollhouse's ending, not going to ruin it if anyone just happens to click this, but it reminded me of that.

Jacob is apparently getting a kid with one of the scientists that were rescued, i believe about everyone from previous games have appeared so far except Kasumi, though she was a DLC and i never played it so might not appear at all.

The further i get, the more it feels like this won't end well. There was some quick conversation in the game that made me get the feel that the end will have all the Mass Relays destroyed and every race separated.

That Kai Leng guy is from one of the books, right? I totally expect him and/or Illusive Man get a bullet in the head very soon. Thessia was just destroyed with him walking out with the prothean device. Now chasing Cerberus to get the catalyst, so i don't think there's much to do except the earth rescue after that, trying to finish this during the weekend.

Edited March 14, 2012 by The Sandman

[TKz]

Getting closer to the end, 30 hours on the clock. It's been fantastic.

Spoilers and thoughts ahead...

Tali without a mask.

Death count rising: (so far)

Mordin, Thane, Kelly Chambers, Udina and Legion.

Jacob is apparently getting a kid with one of the scientists that were rescued, i believe about everyone from the past games have appeared so far except Kasumi, though she was a DLC and i never played it so might not appear at all.

The further i get, the more it feels like this won't end well. There was some quick conversation in the game that made me get the feel that the end will have all the Mass Relays destroyed and every race separated.

That Kai Leng guy is from one of the books, right? I totally expect him and/or Illusive Man get a bullet in the head very soon. Thessia was just destroyed with him walking out with the prothean device. Now chasing Cerberus to get the catalyst, so i don't think there's much to do except the earth rescue after that, trying to finish this on the weekend.

Really? Haven't opened spoilers but I'm 30 hours in and I've only just done like, 2 quests in Act 2... Then again I've spent A LOT of time scanning planets, finding assets, playing online, doing side quests and just generally talking to crew members.

[The Sandman]

I hope that i'm far from the end, no actual info about it. It's just the feel i'm getting about it.

[Benji]

A few spoilers follow. (Answer to Nick)

Honestly, the more I think about the ending, the less I like it. However, I am going to reserve complete judgment until I've completed it a few times. But I can sort of reason what the whole "bleakness" of all the endings is to make the point that the Reapers CAN'T be stopped otherwise simply because the whole point of the galaxy and its evolution depends on what the Catalyst and the Reaps do every 50,000 years, and thus Shepard and his fleet of angry aliens are actually the bad guys. I don't necesarily agree with this being a good explanation for the rather dumb ending but still.

Oh yeah, the rest of the game is pretty fantastic. The only real complaint I had outside the ending was to do with former squad members (spoilerish on who joins you as a squad member)...

The lack of former squad members joining up with you again is a bit frustrating, especially the fact I didn't have a single Krogan despite having both Wrex and Grunt still alive.

I honestly don't see this complaint; you have Tali, Kaidan/Ashley, Garrus, Liara (even EDI could be counted), plus a new one that actually make perfect sense (James Vega). I would rather argue that weren't near enough returning members in Mass Effect 2 but than again, the story in that game made much more sense in that respect. To me, the amount of run-ins you have with all of your previous squadmembers (even the DLC ones) more than makes up for it.

I think my issue came down more that I loved the cast of ME2, and Wrex from ME1. Liara bores me, Kaidan (who survived for me) was shitty in the first one and second one, but was great in three, Tali and Garrus were going to be in no matter what, and Vega was just there to shore up numbers and help anyone new to the series. EDI I get why they did it, but as far as squad members go she was probably the last crew member I wanted. Fuck, I would've chosen Joker or Chakwas over her.

Give me Miranda, Jack, Grunt, Wrex, Kasumi, Mordin or Thane any day of the week over the additions of EDI and Vega, and Liara.

[TKz]

If you've had any contact with the Quarian, then you're about halfway through according to my guide.

[The Sandman]

Yes i'm past that, it indicates that in my spoilers so don't check those out if you're not there yet.

Edited March 14, 2012 by The Sandman

[TKz]

Yes i'm past that, it indicates that in my spoilers so don't check those out.

Maybe I've just spent a lot of time running around doing nothing of value. I do take a trip around the Citadel and my ship before and after every major mission.

[mystikz]

there's actually a lot of little conversations and hidden things on the Citadel in between missions so yeah I wasted time on that too.

as for the squad

I guess with the possibility of deaths in ME2 it created complications of squad members rejoining and they wanted to have some you would have no matter what. technically you can have just Liara, EDI and James.

I thought James had good voice acting, and he was all right guy but not someone I really wanted to bring with me. I would have rather had him as a background character on the ship like Cortez or Traynor.

Seems EDI was there for Joker. I didn't really care for her being a squad member. Getting a body, and close to Joker? fine but eh? I would have rather had someone new.

It just seemed like here's your ME1 squad back plus a few new characters! you don't get anyone from ME2 though! I still wish we'd have gotten Wrex back with a mostly ME1 squad.

I'm obviously partial to Tali/Garrus and besides using Liara some that was my team. I can't really see wanting to use anyone else other than Ash in other playthroughs. well maybe Javik. I was much more attached to the ME squad. actually cried for Mordin and Thane. Legion had a great moment as well. I don't see why Miranda or Grunt couldn't have joined you. I could see why for Jacob and I didn't even really want him back.

Edited March 14, 2012 by mystikz

[Summers]

Multi tonight?

[DavidMarrio]

I'd have a few games later on tonight like Just doing some more of the story atm.

[King Ellis]

Yes! Was going really well with some of our North American friends last night with my infiltrator. Cryo Blast + Sniper = win.

[DavidMarrio]

What time we planning on going on then?

[Nick Adams]

Okay, finishing my elaboration of a better ending:

So, with the explanation of the Reapers that I gave, how do you explain the Crucible, if it isn't the weapon that it wound up being? What is the Catalyst if it isn't that creepy spirit-thing that made the Reapers? Well, here you go...

The Crucible was declared a weapon to anybody that found out about it, because its real reason for existence would have made members of a militaristic and domineering society like the Protheans view the Crucible as a waste of time. The Crucible, it turns out, is the most ironic result of the cycle that has ever occurred. When the Reapers used the Citadel to disable the mass relays, one after the other, Protheans realized something - using Element Zero to continue their fight would eventually prove futile. The Reapers used the same technology, and the technology that could develop along those lines was all technology that the Reapers would know to oppose. The Crucible wasn't really a weapon - it was a vessel, capable of interstellar travel, using a method of travel that did not require dark energy. The Protheans came close to completing the device, but they lacked one crucial piece of information - a way to make the ship mobile without the use of Element Zero. It was supposed to be a way for the Protheans to survive the cycle, because it would have allowed them to go to a place in the galaxy where the mass relays didn't reach.

Oddly enough, because humanity had begun to go in to FTL research before discovering Element Zero or the Prothean station on Mars, they already had begun to put together the pieces of FTL travel that could be accomplished without ever using dark energy. The finale of the entire game is then split in to multiple parts, similar to how the first Mass Effect game played out (i.e. Ilos/Battle of the Citadel). The first part of the mission is Shephard taking the Normandy SR-2 to Gagarin Station, which was left alone because it was so close to the heliopause that the Reapers missed it. The plan is to go in to the databanks to see what the people on what Alenko called the "goose chase" FTL projects, but Cerberus has the same idea. Believing that the activation of Gagarin Station will draw the Reapers' attention, Shephard also gathers the support fleet that he has gained, and tells them that they need to attack the Reapers on Earth, using every advantage they can for the fight. Meanwhile, the Catalyst is left barely defended, with only a token force left to try and guard the device, which seemed completed when the fleets launched for Earth. Shephard manages to beat Cerberus on Gagarin station, and discovers records that would allow the builders of the Crucible to finally power the FTL drive - what one of your crew calls a tesseract machine, as they will oddly be familiar with "A Wrinkle in Time". EDI is the most likely choice for this part of dialogue, but other crew members will know it if she is not present.

They try to contact the Crucible construction site, only to find communications shut down. Instead of joining the battle for Earth, the Normandy makes a mass relay jump to get to the Crucible, only to find it swarming with both Cerberus and Crucible defense force ships, pitched in battle. The Normandy is forced to fight its way to a docking area closest to where they could deliver the Catalyst to what Shephard and company have realized is the Crucible's space-folding manifold. Cut scene back to Earth. Depending on how you've prepared your war assets (and the galaxy's readiness level), the Reapers could be losing, the battle could be a stalemate for the moment, or the Council fleet could be forced to fall back to the asteroid belt for cover. Back to Shephard's mission, and it's a long, hard slog to the center of the base, with Cerberus throwing everything it can at the team. Depending on the choices you made prior to this, you may get assistance from Rachni troops at certain points. Finally, Shephard gets to the center of the Crucible, where the Illusive Man is waiting. A dialogue begins, with the Illusive Man talking about human dominance if they can have a device that lets them explore even without the mass relays, about how that kind of technological advance could make the Reapers retreat in fear, and if they used it right, they could even take the fearsome AIs controlling the Reapers and bend them to humanity's will. Depending on how things work out, the Illusive Man either (Paragon) realizes that his own goals have driven him to actions that he previously would have condemned and Shephard's team taking him to custody, the Illusive Man (neutral) refusing to apologize for what he's done and escaping alive but never to be heard from again, or the Illusive Man (Renegade) refusing to let anybody but him use the power of the Crucible and forcing Shephard to engage in a final fire fight that reveals that the Illusive Man is a combination of biotic and synthetic capabilities, making him just as difficult to defeat as Saren was in the first game. It's one of those times where people playing as Renegades will probably go, "Fuck, why was I such a dick as Shephard?" Either way, the Illusive Man and Cerberus are eliminated as a threat, and the Normandy installs the Catalyst with the remaining protection fleet (potentially part Rachni), places that entire protection fleet in to interior docking areas on the Crucible, and does the first tesseract jump in recorded galactic history, even Reaper records.

Back on Earth, Anderson is on the ground, either leading a strike force that lets them stop the Reapers from completely decimating San Francisco (Star Trek nod), holding them off but slowly losing ground, or watching as the Reapers begin to destroy the city, block by block, while he just keeps running, helpless against the onslaught, because he doesn't have enough support. Anderson manages to contact Hackett in any case, demanding to know where the Crucible is. This is where things can go one of nine ways, depending on if you've under-prepared, barely prepared, or are well-prepared, and if you choose Paragon, Neutral, or Renegade options. Typically, under-preparation will lead to Anderson dying just before the Crucible goes in to the system while the Council fleet is decimated, bare preparation will lead to Anderson living (barely) but Earth being a wrecked waste land because the Council fleet wasn't enough to get all the Reapers to join the fight, and good preparation of your assets leads to Earth surviving with some cities in tact, and Anderson leading a rout on the ground. When the Crucible comes in to the system, all the ships guarding it and the Normandy disengage from the vessel, and the Reapers suddenly stop fighting. They move to approach the Crucible, and since you already know the Reapers' origins at this point, you know why it's happening. The Reapers, recognizing the Normandy because of the heat it emits when it launches from the Crucible, contact Shephard.

The dialogue proceeds, with the Reapers saying that in spite of war, in spite of the cycle, Shephard and his allies have succeeded in doing something that their creators never expected. They have made a device capable of interstellar travel that does not require dark energy. The cycle could end, because there was no further need for it - the galaxy would survive without the cycle, because dark energy could be forgotten as a method for interstellar travel. The Reapers then give Shephard an offer of peace, and an offer of assistance in aiding the Council and Terminus races so that the interstellar races of the galaxy could still have a galactic community. You have three options. The Paragon choice is that you accept the Reapers' assistance, and the cycle ends, peacefully, with the Reapers declaring an end to the war galaxy-wide. You see a galaxy at peace, albeit, depending on how ready you were for the final conflict, you might have a society in ruins. However, the Reapers help rebuild, freeing the individuals they've indoctrinated, and using their remaining troops as a rebuilding group (Brutes and Ravagers to clear rubble, that sort of thing) and also to help outfit vessels with the new tesseract drives. The Neutral choice is that you refuse the Reapers' help, saying that the Reapers have caused enough trouble, and so the Reapers go back to dark space, with plans to find a home in another galaxy. You get similar planetary outcomes as the Paragon choice, and with tesseract technology being placed in vessels while the mass relays are slowly dismantled, and the Council tries to find a location to replace the Citadel. But then there's the ending that can totally screw you. Both of these endings get that epilogue where a child asks to hear another story about The Shephard, but instead of, "Oh, all right," the story teller simply says, "The Shepard's life after this was similar to the lives of many others after the Reapers stopped the cycle. This part of The Shepard's life is simply proof that, if we so choose, when we are called, we can rise to greatness." Cut to the area behind them, and we see that it is a museum, with the SR-2 filling up the gigantic glass windows at the front. THE END, Mass Effect logo, cue credits.

The Renegade choice has you declaring that no matter what the Reapers are saying now, they are monsters, and deserve to die, leading to Shephard calling for an attack that causes massive damage to both fleets and an all-out battle erupting on Earth - this is the option where Shephard can actually lose to the Reapers, because if you are poorly prepared or barely prepared, the Normandy SR-2 gets destroyed, with EDI sadly telling Jeff she loves him as they go down, Shephard at the galaxy map watching the ship fall around him, and finally, the eezo core of the Normandy bursting out, engulfing the ship in a dark energy explosion and compressing the Normandy in to nothing, with an epilogue showing that the cycle was once again completed, but not before the Reapers find a developing industrial society, and placed the crucible on a planet in the same star system. Being well-prepared means that the Reapers are totally and utterly destroyed, and that the Crucible's technology becomes a matter of research instead of a way to revolutionize interstellar travel. An epilogue has a ship that looks like a mass relay built in the distant future, foreshadowing events similar to those which caused the creation of the Reapers. ANNNNNNND... Mass Effect logo. Cue credits. Because if you've been a dick this entire time, you don't deserve to know that it's the end, jackass.

Fuck, now that I've written this out, I'm beginning to wish I'd gone in to computer science and video game programming so that I could have tried to get hired by BioWare and steer them towards this ending instead of the story and ending that we actually got. Dammit, they should have included a third disc.

On a side note, how obvious after reading all of this is it that I love fan fiction?