#mass effect 3 spoilers

[msunitedstatesjames]

Can't believe Mass Effect 3 is really out here killing off 2/3 of my favorite weird alien men. R.I.P to my favorite hyperactive, singing madman and my favorite lizardman assassin. Now, Garrus will be protected at ALL costs.

[monowires]

the character death that makes me the saddest is definitely anderson. my shepard is earthborn, never had parents or anything close to it. anderson ends up being the closest thing to a dad he’s got, because it’s obvious they trust each other a lot even beyond being brothers in arms.

so shepard almost gets to see what it’s like to have a paternal figure, only to have it taken away from him; and undoubtedly he blames himself for it, because unless i misunderstood the scene, the illusive man/reapers (by proxy?) managed to control shepard’s behavior for a split second thus causing shepard to shoot anderson, and i just can’t handle that. shepard’s already been through so much

[hieravian]

thinking about them now I'm on ME3

was anyone gonna tell me the Kaidan romance carried to ME3 is so tense yet hopeful early on. It is so obvious they wanna be together again but the air ain't clear yet....

not to mention Shep processing Kaidan getting hurt on Mars like break my heart why don't you

:[

[mephestopheles]

"Well, I did just write your name in the stars."

Their friendship is going to kill me

[jaebird88]

Mordin’s sacrifice never fails to bring me to tears. Forget the discourse over the endings. Moments like this are what make the first three Mass Effect games great. That, and the mother of all thresher maws throwing down with a Reaper.

[jacwags]

We really need to talk about the Asari breaking council law by hiding that Thessian beacon.

[finallygaveintothesirencall]

How to Fix Mass Effect 3

Massive spoilers for Mass Effect 3 and the trilogy in general below the cut

This is the unhinged rant I slammed out to not forget the premises and how I had everything wrap up together.  I may or may not come back and polish it up/tighten a few things, but it’s the basic premise at least.

The Reapers have not full on invaded the galaxy, rather there are multiple advanced scouting parties that are being spotted throughout systems, making the galaxy unable to deny the Reapers are coming and that they exist.  Earth is still attacked by Reapers at the beginning, but not on nearly the scale of the game.  

Anderson is still on Earth as a contact, Shepard makes it to the Normandy.  The crucible is the main, driving force of the game.  Shepard still travels the galaxy trying to recruit assets and species to the cause.  HOWEVER, the amount of war assets added to the crucible will directly influence the amount of options you have in the end game for how to take out the Reapers AND how effective that is.  Instead of planets being COMPLETELY besieged by Reapers like Palaven, they're only dealing with a much more manageable amount, and since the uptick in sightings has been gradual but noticeable, there's SLIGHTLY more preparation.  You still need to try and get the Krogan to join the fight, make peace with the Quarian and Geth, etc.  Rather than getting people to help retake Earth, it's getting people to help on the Crucible and be ready to go to war when the full fight happens.

HOWEVER, the Quarian/Geth peace would be much more weighty.  If you're able to broker peace between them, it's a conversation peace against Fuckstick McAsshole (aka Catalyst kid) like, "hey, yeah synthetics and humans were able to reconcile.  how's your fuckoff simulation account for that asshole.  how are you gonna study that phenomenon if you harvest us you idiot sandwich."  This causes a stutter in his programming that allows the Geth or someone to do an important thing.

The Prothean VI/Cerberus Kai Leng stealing it still happens, but Thessia isn't OVERRUN with Reapers.  Still fighting them, still dealing with invasion stuff, but not in like, the heart wrenching way the game did it.  You still go to the Cerberus base, burn it to the fucking ground with EXTREME prejudice and vicious satisfaction.  The Illusive Man still fucks the Citadel off to Earth.  What this does though, is trigger the full force of the Reapers to invade, cause that's what they were waiting for.  Now it's the final end game battle.

Like Mass Effect 2, you have more choices of where to send forces throughout the final push to get the crucible attached to the citadel.  For example, if there's a heavy ground thing, you can send Krogans or Asari Commandos or Alliance members or something like that, then in the dogfights it's Quarians or Turians.  Depending on the fights and in game prompts, it's hinted at who the best choices would be, and they will effect casualties and the ease of the push to the Citadel.  There's still a ground force that has to get into the Citadel, but it's much more similar to the Ilos push where it's a race against time in the Mako or a Mako esque thing, then fighting to open the wings of the Citadel.

When you get there and meet up with Fuckstick McAsshole again, this is where the amount of War Assets you have in the Crucible comes to bear the strongest.  The purpose of the Crucible was always to destroy the Reapers.  What the number of War Assets determines is how thoroughly the Reapers are destroyed and with what consequences.  X level, general EMP, Geth and Edi are shot too and relays all explode.  Y level, general EMP, Geth and Edi gone, some relays explode, up to no relays explode.

NOW HERE'S WHERE THE GETH/QUARIANS COME INTO PLAY.  Shepard is with her squad in this, and comms are functional and open to fleet leaders.  If the Quarians and Geth are at peace, bringing this up to Fuckstick McAsshole causes his computations to glitch when Shepard brings up that he won't be able to see how it plays out if he harvests the cycle.  Geth hear the options and are like, "hey, we have a Reaper IFF we could just, reverse the logic from friend to foe" so the EMP only targets Reaper IFF signatures.  The final fight is fucking with Fuckstick McAsshole's waves of Reaper forces or whatever the hell he throws at you while the Geth install and rewrite the Reaper IFF.  

No massive war outbreak, just skirmishes and hope.  You can destroy all the Reapers, save all your friends, and preserve the Mass Relays, everyone lives happily ever after, the end.

[monowires]

wrex's reaction to the clone takes me the fuck out every single time

[busybee217]

I HAD TO FIND OUT, ON MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY NO LESS, THAT BABY BOY MORDIN DIES CURING THE GENOPHAGE???? 😭😭😭😭

[mephestopheles]

Okay, so I've read enough fiction and have been a lapsed Catholic long enough to see all the ways in which this story was going to go. Am I surprised, not really, was it compelling, absolutely. I'm slightly bitter I don't get my happy ending so to speak, but I did pick the ending that felt the most true to my Shepard.

Which was synthesis.

There was no way my Shep, after fighting alongside Legion and working to help with Geth, even at the potential expense to the Quarians, was he going to choose any other option.

I don't have much more to add at this point. It hurts a lot. Probably going to take a small break from Mass effect proper until I buy it on steam. So I do this all again on the legendary edition.

[cobaltswriting]

Well, I actually enjoyed the party in the Citadel DLC quite a lot! In fact I played it twice, doing both a rowdy party and a quiet party to see the differences~ I think, on the whole, I preferred the quiet party. Also Tali has her (apparently holographic) tattoo. So it should hopefully be easy to remove if Tali doesn’t like it any more.

I also started on the combat simulator and... it’s a bit basic right now, hopefully it gets better.

I also grabbed all the prizes I can from the claw machine. It seems they decided to change the difficulty down to easy after Zaaed had his goes with it.

[licensed-fan-girl]

Heart: shattered

“oh, god, you fought with commander shepard, didn’t you? wow. she was a legend.”

a legend. that’s what kaidan is left with. and it’s not the fault of these kids, who come into the alliance with hope and an N7 dream.

“i heard she took on twenty krogan at once and lived to tell the tale —“

“twenty? more like two hundred!”

“well, i heard that she —“

their voices fade out. a legend in her own right. as she should be. as she deserves to be. after everything she did, commander shepard of the alliance is legendary.

but legends don’t wake up next to you in the morning. legends don’t dance to any tune playing in the kitchen. legends don’t insist on giving themselves haircuts because it’s quicker, don’t sleep with the bathroom light on, don’t beat vega in pull-up contests out of spite.

no, that was just shepard.

“not the time, cadets,” kaidan barks out briefly, once their bickering has turned into arguments there’s a distinct crackle of new biotic energy swirling around fingers and glowing in eyes. commander shepard is simply a passing topic, a heading of a chapter they’re forced to read about. “unless you all want to be working double duty in the bathrooms next week.”

his voice gets them grumbling. his look gets them back to attention. the day finishes like any other, and at the end of it all, kaidan makes it home. to an empty house, an empty bed, and too many gray hairs shepard didn’t get to have.

because that’s the problem, isn’t it? after all, legends don’t live to see tomorrow. that’s how they become legends.

he places two beers on the countertop. reserved for the worst days, when there’s no comfort in the photo he has at his bedside. pops them both, lets the second one fizzle.

“get some sleep, shepard,” he murmurs to it. eyes on the stars as the sun sets. “you’ve earned it.”

[maintitle]

I don't think I've ever mentioned it, but the first time I ever played Mass Effect 3 I did the full playthrough without Garrus. I managed to save everyone on the Suicide Mission in ME2 blind except Garrus, and I didn't realize until a few days after the game launch that Garrus could survive the suicide mission. It was a very confusing experience that I pretty much rushed through because I wanted to replay the second game and fix my mistake. It's also why I think I'm a bit frustrated that there aren't more companions from ME2 in that game, because the phantom memory of a playthrough without BOTH Garrus and Javik still exists as a spectre of horror deep in my soul even after the memories have largely faded into the abyss.

[thefloatingstone]

Local Man forgets the "proposal" part of marriage. More at 11.

(He's so stupid and embarrassing in ME3 and I love him so much sdfkhsdf)

[kiichu]

m... mass effect 3 ending.....