Mass Effect/Fridge: Difference between revisions

{{work}}

== [[Fridge Brilliance]] Part 1 ==

* People have pointed out that the dream sequences seem weird and loopy. However, aren't most dreams supposed to be strange? Its seems terrifying asleep, but explain it to a friend and notice that the flying spaghetti monster doesn't seem intimidating to him/her.

* For the longest time I was bugged by the {{spoiler|"You must destroy all synthetic life" as a result of using the crucible. Then I realized: By that point in the game, all synthetic life was using reaper based AI. The geth had a reaper based AI upload (If they still existed) due to legion. EDI has reaper bits in her code (As well as bits of the AI from Luna which is not reaper based, but was upgraded with reaper code). It's the reaper code that makes them targets!}}

* The reapers and their cycle of extinction provide the perfect answer for the [[wikipedia:Fermi paradox|Fermi Paradox]].

* At the end of ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' {{spoiler|Shepard is given three choices. Paragon: Save the Asari Dreadnought. Renegade: Screw the Council over. Neutral: Focus fire on Soverign, thus killing the Asari dreadnought anyway.}} I was a little pissed that the neutral choice still gives you renegade points but then I realized {{spoiler|not taking action when you can is still JUST AS BAD.}}

* Whether accidental or intentional, the Mass Effect theme music fits exactly into the intro credits to [[Star Trek: Voyager]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZs00NjTPoo\]

* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', you bust Jack out of Purgatory, a prison ship held by the Blue Suns. Now, the merc gang they belong to might not matter, but think for a moment. The Blue Sun(s) hold a girl who's badass, a trained killer, and insane. If this is starting to sound familiar, did I mention that she [[Firefly|can kill you with her brain]]? They used them for yet another Firefly [[Shout-Out]] (the Blue Sun Corporation is the jackasses who were a large part of the Academy's funding/control). Someone at [[BioWare]] must really like ''Firefly''.

** That same ''Firefly'' fan/[[BioWare]] employee must also like [[Pitch Black|Riddick]] if he'd name a badass bald chick 'Jack' (a badass bald chick named Jack who is rescued from a [[The Alcatraz|maximum security prison]]).

*** Of course, we only have the word of someone who was already long indoctrinated that the reapers would be arriving there. And if the reapers did show up people would have noticed, such as anyone sent to check on the colony. It could be that the Reapers entire plan was to ignite a war between humans and Batarians and pin the blame on Shepard.

**** That would make it a nifty little [[Xanatos Gambit]]- if Shepard blows up the relay, s/he'll be sacrificed to ease racial tensions, thus negating a major foe. If s/he fails to blow up the relay, things go as originally planned. [[Xanatos Gambit|Win/Win for the Reapers, I'd say.]]

* Manuel from Eden Prime may seem crazy at first but looking back, everything that he babbled about was actually true.

** Thinking on this, I just realized that he was probably exposed to the beacon just before the attack. The doctor describes him as 'always a bit unstable', but maybe this is what happens to a 'lesser mind', as Liara put it. -

*** Or he's the one who broke the beacon in the first place.

*** Let's not forget that he was also exposed to Sovereign as well as the beacon.

* The principle villains of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' are {{spoiler|The Collectors. You could buy a limited Collector's Edition, whereupon you got The Collector's armor as a bonus. It's not an edition for collectors. It's the edition OF The Collectors. Of course!}} -- [[User:Jack Slack]]

* At first, I thought Jack's character design was too over the top. Then I learned that it is common for abuse survivors to get tattoos and piercings as a way to reassert control over their own body, and it all made perfect sense.

** This is also why the various turians in office tend not to like Udina and why the turian council member quick warms to Udina and Shepard prove Saren guilty. Turian society teaches (and of course, those in power would probably more closely identify with this social trend) that individuals should be introspective enough to understand their limitations and the limitations of others. People should not promote others or be promoted if they're not ready yet. Thus prior to all this, it's likely that the turians Udina worked with saw him (and perhaps by proxy, the humans) as basically being rude for promoting someone into a position they weren't ready for.

** The third game adds a wrinkle: {{spoiler|Udina is working for Cerberus. The Illusive Man's seemingly limitless connections are what made toad like Udina the most powerful human in the galaxy.}}

* It's noted on the main ''[[Mass Effect]]'' page that the planet Klandagon is described as having a massive scar carved from a mass effect weapon fired either at or by the Reaper you board in ''2''. But notice what's in the orbital just outside Klendagon? {{spoiler|An asteroid belt. [[Earthshattering Kaboom|Boom]].}}

* Many people were irked over Garrus' loyalty armor being just as broken and burnt his standard armor, which gets damaged during his recruitment mission. They complained about it being a blatant case of a simple repaint... which it is, ''literally'', in the game. Genius! - [[The Pein]]

** The extended universe confuses this troper's view of Saren in the first game as a potentially sympathetic character. In Mass Effect: Revelation, Saren seems to be a total [[Jerkass|Jerk Ass]] before finding Sovereign. However, in Mass Effect: Evolution it turns out he {{spoiler|encountered a Reaper artifact ''before'' Sovereign which seemingly caused a sort of "indoctrination lite", perhaps leading him to search out Sovereign in the first place?}}

*** Put together events from Mass Effect: Evolution and Retribution and the ramifications of the Lazarus Project are [[Fridge Horror|horrifying]]. Some facts: In Mass Effect 2, Renegade Shepard's eyes are suspiciously similar to those of the Illusive Man. In Evolution, The Illusive Man's "crazy eyes" are a result of contact with the same {{spoiler|Reaper artifact that "indoctrinated" Saren}}. In Retribution, The Illusive Man {{spoiler|implants Reaper technology into Paul Grayson.}}

*** Considering the verse ''Mass Effect'' takes place in, uniting every species against a common enemy after centuries of petty bickering, is unabashedly the better option. If we win, galactic peace is a very real possibility. If we die, we died free and standing together as a final fleeting act of defiance against those who see us as less than ants. ''Mass Effect 3'' may very well chronically every known species' final hours, [[The Last Dance|but they will not go quietly with submissive acceptance like Saren wanted them to...]]

**** But still consider Saren's point of view—he'd rather they survive ''somehow'' than definitely all die, as from his point of view, there's no possible way for the Reapers to be stopped (and if Shepard wasn't so awesome, there really wouldn't be a way to stop the Reapers. Quite frankly, if the Normandy had been a few hours farther from Eden Prime, the Reapers probably would have already won!).

* On the flip side to the Collectors, also remember the keepers - more than likely, a different race modified as the Protheans were (long, long, long ago). Considering the important role the keepers play in the Reapers' plans, it's likely that the keepers were involved in the very first cycle (or at least, for quite some time).

** This troper has a theory [[Wild Mass Guessing|that the keepers originally created what became the Reapers.]]

** Precisely. The fact that Sovereign was controlling Saren when you kill him is what weakens his actual Reaper form enough to be destroyed by the ''Normandy''. This is also the reason they show the cut scene of Harbinger releasing the last Prothean before the station blows up to avoid the same fate. Word of God actually, although I can't find the link at the moment.

** That makes perfect sense! Note, that when Harbinger possesses one of the Collectors, it glows gold. In the ending cinematic, Harbinger's hologram is also gold. {{spoiler|When Sovereign possesses Saren, he glows red, and Sovereign's hologram on Virmire is red.}}

* You know why Shepard dies if his/her entire team does? Because there's no one who can pull Shepard up after his/her leap to the ''Normandy''. Joker is too weak and brittle to do it himself.

** Plus, the Collectors manage to shoot him - he's pulling Shepard up, he gets hit, and drops him/her (Shepard manages to hold onto the edge). This doesn't happen if two teammates survive: Joker keeps shooting, and one of your squadmates pulls Shepard up.

* People keep saying that Miranda's face is [[Uncanny Valley]] because of how strange it looks. But while reading that page, this Troper realized that {{spoiler|the reason her face does seem so strange is because it's ''too perfect''. Since she was a designer baby grown in a lab, her face is more symmetrical than the average human's!}}

** Miranda's face is actually modeled after her voice actor, [[wikipedia:Yvonne Strahovski|Yvonne Strahovski]].

* I was reflecting on the {{spoiler|Protheans and Collectors being the same species}}, and, despite them clearly saying there was corruption, they really can't be that different from the original and yet still be recognizable by scan. This means that the {{spoiler|Protheans were insectoid}}. Remember on Ilos, when {{spoiler|the V.I. deactivated most of the less-important Protheans' pods to preserve power for the more important ones}}? For them, that's not a moral question - it's a {{spoiler|genetic imperative}}! - Elessar267

** But {{spoiler|the statues you find on Ilos are humanoid, not insectoid. There's even a picture of a Huskified one in the Codex.}}

** Also, Tali has spent much of her life scavenging and researching Geth technology. The Geth are also known for having very advanced shield technology, so it's not out of the question that she incorporated some of their tech into her own suit.

** In Mass Effect 3, when remembering the first time she was fired upon, she says that she was naive, young, and didn't have her shields up because she wasn't expecting an attack.

** Also remember how turian culture tends to work. You get promoted because you can handle the promotion; you don't get promoted just because you did something good. Thus for Garrus to be seriously considered for the Spectres (along with all the pre-Spectre training) means he was already almost or as-good as a Spectre except for having the title. Why he wasn't was probably as much a cultural thing as well - his [[Cowboy Cop]] attitude means that, to most turians, promoting him to a Spectre would be a bad mark on his sponsor (likely an influential individual).

*** In the same conversation you find out he was tapped as a Spectre candidate, he reveals he turned it down in favor of joining C-Sec after his father who hated the idea of the Spectres as too much power in a single person.

** The stigma only appears if a turian is demoted, in which case the person who promoted him is humiliated. So if he failed Spectre training, the shame would come to the person who tapped him for Spectre training. Garrus' sponsor would not be stigmatized.

* The name of the [[Norse Mythology|LOKI]] mechs in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is pretty funny when you realize that they're constantly glitching out and betraying you.

* When talking to {{spoiler|Legion}}, Shepard mentions that the geth are immune to hacking. However, in what would normally look like a case of [[Gameplay and Story Segregation]], the AI Hacking ability works on them just like any other [[Mecha Mook]]. It wasn't until I thought about ''why'' the geth are hack-proof that it made sense. {{spoiler|Their programming acts like a giant wiki. If a couple of geth programs realize that some of the others are acting weird, they can just replace them with older, unhacked versions.}} The reload, however, takes time, which is why the AI Hacking ability only works for a few seconds, rather than permanently like it would with current-day computer programs, or not-at-all if the update was instantaneous. I figure the non-geth synthetics have anti-virus software or internal backups which accomplish pretty much the same purpose. Who knew [[Wiki Magic]] could be used as a tactical advantage?

** It doesn't explain, though, why the Overlord AI was able to take over a small army of dormant geth from a crashed ship. Then it hits you: {{spoiler|the Geth are programs, the robots you see are only platforms. When their ship crashed, it is likely that most of the programs were transmitted off-world, with only a few remaining Geth on the actual ship. Overlord had an easy time controlling them, since the Geth's strength is mainly in numbers}}.

*** There's another way to interpret that, though - remember {{spoiler|David's pleas to "Quiet - please make it stop"? Well, recall that David has an ability to understand the Geth's language, and in one-on-one interactions, he's perfectly fine with chatting with them... but then think of ''how many geth he would be hearing simultaneously'' when hooked up directly to their network.}} A case of [[Fridge Horror]], to put it mildly.

** A third way to interpret the matter is that AI Hacking doesn't just (or doesn't at all) hack the program but rather injects a virus into the hardware that takes control rather than trying to alter the software; something akin to game console piracy devices which don't change the software but simply re-interpret the signals. Thus the hack locks out control from the native program and manipulates the hardware directly. For the geth, since they're programs not hardware, such a hack still works, but since they're also sentient and numerous, they can also go in and fix things creatively and concurrently. This also somewhat works better than the 'point out they're wrong' explanation since part of the reason you had true and heretic geth was because of a 'bug' in the heretic's programming; the geth did point out the flaws but rather than 'fix' 'em, they allowed the heretics to do their own thing.

** You are absolutely correct in your reasoning, but it should be noted that Shepard also knows this. He/She does not actually say that the "geth are immune to hacking" when talking to {{spoiler|Legion}}, but rather, that hacking only works temporarily on them.

** When asked about the genophage in Mass Effect, Wrex asks Shepard "When was the last time you saw a Krogan scientist?" In fact, if you keep an eye out, shepard does meet quite a few people that could qualify. In Mass Effect, the Krogan supervising the breeding program on virmire is arguably a scientist, and in Mass Effect 2, Okeer (the creator of Grunt) is somewhat of a scientist as well as most of Clan Weyrloc that are undertaking tests to try and cure the genophage. While Krogan scientists aren't exactly widespread, there are a few. - Kuri

* While [[Anyone Can Die]] in the second game, having any of your squadmates die doesn't actually affect the post-game much...except if Mordin dies, then all your upgrades suddenly require 50% more resources to get. You no longer have the brilliant scientist operating the tech lab, so ''of course'' getting upgrades takes more effort.

** Given the time involved and the use of translator microbes, what we perceive as differences in accent may represent entirely different ''languages''.

*** Here's a thought...English (or whatever is being translated as English for us players) seems to be the official language of the Alliance. How do we know this? Because we hear so many accents- Dr. Chakwas, Ashley, Miranda, Ken. People who are obviously speaking another language, like the Security chief on Noveria and Fai Dan, speak unaccented English thanks to the Translator Bugs. All the aliens in the game also speak unaccented English, except for some of the quarians- and they are all over the map. What if the quarians have their own official Flotilla language, in addition to the old languages preserved on the different ships? The reason we hear Tali speaking English with an accent is that those very efficient Translator Bugs are noting that she speaks Flotilla Quarian with an accent!

***** Only one background for Shepard sees he/her even coming from Earth. Shepard is not North American.

****** Yes, s/he is. If the Colonist or Spacer background is chosen, that doesn't change who Shepard's parents were. They still came from North America, and Shepard still picked up the accent from them. Only difference with Earthborn is they never left Earth and s/he was somehow left to fend for him/herself, and picked up the accent from the people around him/her. -- Medicus

***** I like to think Shepard is Canadian. He did get his ''[[Dragon Age]]'' armor from the ''Edmonton'' Blood Dragons (yes [[BioWare]]'s from Edmonton, but so's [[Nathan Fillion]] and the prospect of ''ME'' meeting ''[[Firefly]]'' is too awesome too ignore).

**** actually both of the voice actors for Shepard are both from Canada. So there Shepard by proxy is Canadian.

* This Troper recently played Mass Effect again and was initially bugged by Saren's temper tantrum after he finds out Shepard uses the beacon on Eden Prime. Given how Saren was so calm and collected throughout the rest of the game, it seemed rather out of character for him to start roaring incoherently and throwing things around, not to mention all the flashing red lights in the background. And then this Troper realized that {{spoiler|''Sovereign'' was the one having the temper tantrum ''through'' Saren. You can even hear his voice mixed in with Saren's when he states Shepard must be eliminated.}}

* Mordin dies really easily in the suicide mission even if he's loyal, which makes a good share of the players rip their hair off. If you've talked to him often, you might have stumbled into a conversation where he mentions that he worked with captain Kirrahe who you encountered on Virmire in the first game. Mordin remarks, that while the captain's "Hold the line." speeches were impressive, he personally ''hates'' it. If you assign him to hold the line during suicide mission, there's a good chance he's a goner, but if you don't he survives (if he's loyal).

*** Thinking about this further, it's evidence that the designers planned out every detail of the suicide mission such that you can't just check off the loyalty missions and expect everyone to survive; you need to actually be a good leader by learning your squad's strengths, weakness, and personalities and assigning them accordingly.

* A meta realisation: I caught the end of an episode of [[CSI: Miami]], and it occurred to me that a Renegade Shepard who treats his crew nicely is pretty much exactly like Horatio Caine - morbid snark, highly protective of his/her crew, tends to piss off authority and love it, and weirdly beloved by the franchise.

* Throughout the game, Miranda makes a big deal of how she was "designed to be perfect" and that [[Cursed with Awesome|hasn't really made her life significantly better]]. It's easy to take this at face value as [[An Aesop]] against the limitations and potential misuse of genetic engineering, but then you realise that there's a a double, out-of-universe meaning. Miranda is a Sentinel: she can use both Warp and Overload, making her effective against enemies with all four types of protection. Her passive boosts the entire squad's weapon damage and health points. And she's one of only two squadmates that can max out three abilities instead of just two. ''Bioware'' '''''literally''''' ''designed Miranda to be the perfect squadmate''.

** Not to mention she also gets the most powerful Advanced ability in terms of raw damage. Slam can [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|one-hit kill Collectors]], and its cooldown is ''one second''.

*** Hell, you could justify it just by the intense trauma of, you know, dying. --Peteman

**** Depending on the player, it could also be simple character development. In the first game, every choice Shepard made had consequences and affected how people saw him/her. So Renegade Shepard may have simply decided that he/she wanted to view his/her choices more responsibly, becoming Paragon. On the other hand, in the first game, the crew had to cut their way through a completely unreasonable amount of red tape to get things done, so Paragon Shepard may have decided to use a brute force approach, thus becoming Renegade.

* Turians as a whole are highly civic-minded, and a generally selfless species that focuses on the good of the whole society, service to others, self-sacrifice, etc. With this in mind, look at Saren's choice and justifications for joining Sovereign: he wanted to protect the rest of the galaxy and save organic life, even if that meant his own vilification and destruction due to indoctrination...and he gets angry at Shepard for refusing to work with the Reapers. In effect, Saren is doing ''exactly what the mores of turian society said was the right thing to do.'' Working with the Reapers to save the galaxy is, in a twisted way, exactly what a turian ''would'' do.

** Remember also the turian culture tends to be something of a meritocracy. To a very proud turian like Saren, this would, again in a twisted way, mean that if Soveriegn chose turians to survive, this would 'prove' that turians really are better.

* I know it's kind of a stretch, but "metaphorically", if you would like, it seems like Joker was, indeed, born to fly. Think about it: hollow bones. Like a bird's...

** This troper absolutely loves this idea.

**** Dang, that makes a lot of sense! I get the feeling it's intentional, it explains the surname "Moureau" (half man, half animal) and, y'know he's really ungainly on foot but soars like a leaf on the wind when flying.

***** "Leaf on the wind"? ''[[Tempting Fate|Don't]] [[Words Can Break My Bones|say]] [[Team Killer|that]]''.

* The song Mordin occasionally sings is right; he really ''is'' the very model of a scientist salarian. {{spoiler|Just look at his work with the genophage (both times)}}.

* So I was listening to Tali chatter about her father on the admiralty board, and wondering whether or not it had been too hard to make the light on her face-plate light in sync with her words or if Bioware had just been a bit lazy .. a moment later I realised it actually ''was'' flashing in-sync - it was just going out with every word. At least it seemed to be. But then it hit me; the light on the Quarian faceplate looks so very much like the light on the cyclopean Geth - it's another trick to establish a subconscious link between the Geth and their creators in the mind of the player. More than that, it might even be a hint at some deeper element of Quarian cultural aesthetics - is there some deeper significance to the single glowing light that featured first on their creations, and now on every one of their body suits? Heck, it might even be intended to create a play back and forth between the facelessness of the Geth and the Quarians, both intensifying the oddness of the Quarian faceplate and reminding there's probably a lot more to the Geth than the initial faceless, emotionless robot they initially seem to be.

** To add to that, in ME1 enemies scale up to your level—you're never ''inordinately'' stronger than them, in the sense they're still level-one mooks and you're a level-sixty god. So when you hit ME2, the same occurs: you're still not so much stronger than them that their bullets simply bounce off of your hardened skin weaved flesh, but you are using the best weapons, come equipped with top-of-the-line armor, and still have your combat expertise.

** I attributed the loss of level to the 2 years of being dead. Setting aside the obvious resurrection issue, muscles and skills atrophy without regular use which justifies the level drop for an imported character. Shepard has been out of action for two years and needs to reaquaint themselves with their skills and abilities again. It flows perfectly into the returning level 60 cap in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. You are just as badass at level 60 in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' as you were in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. It also is perfectly logical that you continue to build your skills in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' from where you left off in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''.

** And in the comics, Afterlife was where Liara went to get your body in order to give it to the Cerberus scientists who would bring you back to life.

** And then you go to Purgatory to pick up Jack.

* At the conclusion of the game, Harbinger speaks directly to Shepard for a few moments.

{{quote|'''Harbinger:''' Human, you've changed nothing. Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction. You have failed. We will find another way. Releasing control.}}

*** And this is why you don't want Morinth around unless you want to end up with one very dead Yeoman. Or well, that doesn't happen for gameplay reasons, but come on. Morinth and Kelly in the same room? I give the poor redhead 23.8 seconds.

** Actually, judging by the position of the Galaxy map, the menu is Kelly's station. Combine with full access, Cerberus Network terminal, TIM's [[Decoy Leader|reports]] to some [[Powers That Be|PTB]] as mission conclusions, the fact that the gameplay itself is a record (as evidenced by the "film grain" effect) and the fact that Kelly was hand-picked by TIM for extra paranoia.

** And that DLC you download from EA's Cerberus Network? ''More gifts from the Illusive Man.''

*** Take a good look at the legs, feet and hands of turians. Now take a good look at the legs, feet and hands of quarians. That is all.

*** {{spoiler|[[Mass Effect 3]] confirms that the Protheans were at least aware of the races, and were heavily involved with influencing the primitive asari.}}

* The green circuit board shown during the bypass minigame may seem like a decorative frill, until you figure out that all the links follow the electric circuits shown on it and never deviate from this template. Once you learn the internal logic of their layout, it becomes possible to win it every time without ever double-checking what symbols are actually hidden underneath the selectable dots or making any errors. -Drakkenmensch

** That is exactly what makes it an "''It Just Bugs Me''" for me. One might assume that what Shepard does is connecting the circuits using wire or something like that. However, this raises question since s/he only connects the dots which are ''already connected'' on the board itself. -HaXXeR

*** Because it's showing the circuit board of an ''already-working'' security system. All you're doing is creating a bypass around the thing's sensors through Shepard's omni-tool, and to do that you need to know where the matching contact points are. Otherwise you'll send the wrong signals to the wrong components and trip the alarm. -MrUnderhill

* The menu in ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect 1]]'' is blue. In the [[Darker and Edgier]] sequel the menu is orange. The same colours as the [[Karma Meter]] -Playsbassbadly

* The reprogramming vs. destroying of the Geth Heretics seems to be a bit off on the morality scale. The renegade option has you simply killing them, while the paragon option has you brainwashing half of a species! What the hell? Then, if you think about it, while paragon vs. renegade seems to be nice guy vs. jerk, it's actually more complicated. The result of Paragon actions tends to be less power concentrated in the hands of humanity, but more allies garnered for your side. The Renegade option tends to alienate or destroy any potential allies, but concentrate more and more power in humanity's hands. Therefore, reprogramming the Geth Heretics is clearly the Paragon option, because it turns a great enemy into a potential ally, while the Renegade option simply removes a threat.

** Actually the heretics only make up about 5% of the geth population, according to Legion.

* The Renegade interrupt button, on the 360 at least, is the right trigger, or fire button. The Paragon interrupt button is the left trigger, or aim button. Renegade interrupts are usually violent and immediate, like firing a gun. Paragon interrupts are usually making someone rethink what they're doing (though not always in a violent way), like pointing - but not firing - a gun at a mugger or someone like that.

** It always annoyed me, after playing the game for many an hour on the 360, that the PC version switched the interrupts around (Renegade on left, Paragon on right), leading to many accidental Renegade interrupts during Paragon playthroughs and vice-versa. This made me realize that, on the PC, the Left Mouse Button (Renegade) is the fire button and the Right Mouse Button (Paragon) is the aim button.

* At first, I was annoyed that in the ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' teaser, [[Fan Nickname|Big Ben]]'s sniper rifle looks like a bolt-action gun - it's the year 2185, for Pete's sake! But guess what I found while browsing the ''ME'' wiki - the Mantis and the Widow are both bolt-action. The design most likely allows for a quick cycling of a heat sink, and they're powerful enough that each round ''could'' require its own heat sink.

*** It's burst-fire (but the shots are close enough together to sound like one shot), and it could simply be that he topped off his heat sink. Assuming that he's using a sniper rifle that appears in ''ME2''.

** This troper always assumed that it was he had simply fired his last burst, and was popping his heatsink - the way you eject heatsinks from Sniper Rifles in ME2 is basically bolt action.

** Which kind of adds weigh to Wrex who is already something like 600 years old. He's that damn old because he's that damn good of a Battlemaster. Probably one significant factor in his ability to gather and lead the krogan. By our standards, he's a badass old man. By their standards, he may as well be a living legend. And add that he considers Shepard a close friend and an equal, his throwaway comment when learning about Shepard getting spaced makes sense. For people like them, death is a minor life hurdle. Shepard proving himself to the krogan was probably less about proving his worth and more about proving that everything Wrex said was right.

** ME2 does have a short quest that reveals Krogan can live much longer than humans. An Asari is wrestling over whether or not to pair off with a Krogan, and says "It's not like with a human, where you just tough it out for a century and they die." With the physiology, where pretty much all organs have a backup set or TWO (primary, secondary, and tertiary organs), Krogans are definitely built to last.

** Umm Sheperd sayes that krogan can live for over a thousond years during a chat with Wrex in ME1.

** And Eternity is an obvious reference to the asari "embrace eternity" thing, although for some reason <s>This Troper</s> [[Tropers/Alynnidalar|Alynnidalar]] never realized that until reading this page.

** All the names of everything in ''Mass Effect'' is always relevant. In Liara's side mission, you are tasked with finding the Observer. Then you discover she's spying on Liara.

* When you first encounter the Collectors in battle on Horizon, they seem to be little more than generic identical [[Mooks]] blindly rushing into battle. Then it is revealed later in the game by Mordin and EDI that the Reapers engineered them to be exactly that: expendable servants with no sense of individuality and self-preservation.

* During the final boss fight of Overlord, {{spoiler|geth pop out of thin air to slow you down. At first, it just seems like they're there to stall you from a gameplay perspective, and wouldn't make sense in-universe. However, a few minutes earlier, David hacked your omni-tool and is basically controlling you. The geth also vanish when they die, implying they don't really exist. They ''do'' exist, and they ''are'' real geth - they're not geth platforms, they're geth ''programs''. David is sending the few geth programs remaining on the planet to [[Mind Rape]] you via your omni-tool.}}

* I was always frustrated by the fact that the Mako and the Hammerhead were hard to drive. Then I realized: of course it would be hard to drive it! Shepard is a soldier through and through, not a driver/pilot! The difficulty of controlling the vehicles is just an in-game example of how Shepard can be a bad-ass because of killing people, but NOT because of his/her brilliance of driving. [[Memetic Mutation|Impressive]].

***** Wrong. Hanharr was introduced in ''KotOR II''.

****** Sorry, your right, I was thinking of Zaalbar. Still, it still might be a Shout Out. Bioware IS making the next game in the series.

** [[Stargate|Stellar drift.]] The systems/clusters containing the relays that are right next to each other now probably ''weren't'' next to each other 3+ million years ago when the relays were first forged. And unlike the Stargate network, the relays probably don't auto-correct beyond finding the relay that they used to connect to again, since it would make them harder to shut down whenever the Reapers come back to harvest. A more advanced (and Reaper-proof) program could get around this issue with some basic pathfinding algorithms.

** It's all in the Codex. Major relays come in pairs. They can only reach each other. Minor relays are omni-directional but are also much more short ranged. Thus the flight paths are first using major relays to get within the general area and then minor ones to get to the actual destination.

** Which makes you realize that the Volus merchant in the lower market on Citadel does show you great consideration by calling you "Earth Clan", since he's referring to your planet of origin and how much clans are important to the Volus.

* In Lair of the Shadow Broker, {{spoiler|Liara}} starts with all four powers unlocked. This isn't just because {{spoiler|she}} is only on your team for just this set of missions. This is because {{spoiler|Liara}} has ''always'' been loyal to you.

** Earth has eleven billion inhabitants and is still suffering from the after-effects of global warming. chances are that the fish and meat used to make ramen rarefied a lot, making ramen a rare and expensive delicacy in the late 22nd century. – Nixou

** To be fair, ramen is also not considered a cheap food in Japan as it is in the US. You can find ramen shops in Japan pretty readily.

* So why was Tali romancable in the second game but not the first? Well when you first encounter her she is on her Pilgrimage, here rite of passage into adulthood. Tali was only a child by Quarian standards, and [[Lolicon|Loli]]Shep is one [[Memetic Mutation|meme]] we don't need.

* How much of an [[Alpha Bitch]] is Miranda? Well both she and Shepard have their own beds, you can even see them in in their offices, but when you romance her she decides to do it with you in the engine room; why? This is where Tali works and just above where Jack sleeps, by doing this she is in essence ''marking her territory to her rivals.''

** It would, but has it actually been confirmed that the Reapers invade the batarian homeworld first?

*** [http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/02/alliancenews5/ Yes.]

** {{spoiler|1=The Catalyst views himself as the highest form of life in the galaxy [and rightfully so], and is likely the culmination of synthetic evolution. He views organics as inferior, but purely from a logical perspective. He values organic life to the extent that he deems it worthy of being 'preserved' but does not trust it to act in its own best interests - thus, 'chaos', to which he posits Reapers as the solution. But the problem with creatures of pure logic is that they can never have full certainty in matters of probability - in other words, he sees a potential situation in which he is proven wrong [incidentally, this is foreshadowed during Mordin's loyalty mission in ME2 where he points out that simulations were run that showed the krogan going into full-scale war against the turians without the genophage - simulations that, through Shepards intervention, can be proven wrong], so he creates a test for organics, and if they pass this test, they can override him. Thus the Crucible is conceived.}}

** {{spoiler|The created, in the Catalyst's own words, always rebel against their creators. But in this cycle, thanks to Shepard's actions, peace was made [in the ideal resolution to that arc] not only between the geth and quarians, but also between the krogan [which were 'uplifted' by the salarians and turians, and thus in many ways shaped by them] and the rest of the galaxy. This was the 'chaos' that the Catalyst describes, and which the Reapers were its means of ending; it's the chaos that Shepard manages to put an end to. The plans for the Crucible have existed throughout these cycles, and, by implication, discovered in many of them, by intent of the Catalyst as a means of testing whether organic life was capable of putting an end to the chaos not just of technological singularity, but also of internecine warfare and other seemingly inexorable traits of organic life that prevented it from 'ascending' [i.e. reaching its full potential]. If organics [and synthetics] could not put their differences aside and focus on building the Crucible, they were doomed to extinction - the Reapers would harvest them and force their "ascension" by their own means to make way for the next cycle.}}

** {{spoiler|Now contrast this with what Shepard is able to accomplish in a very narrow time frame, and the way in which the war assets mechanic is set up. Shepard gains war assets largely through mediating conflict resolution - in other words, he brings order to the chaos of the galaxy, and the more successful he is in doing this, the better the endgame is by virtue of the Catalyst being convinced that his 'solution' is obsolete. This is also why the more war assets you collect, the more autonomy you have during the ending. After all, the Catalyst is a godlike being that's roughly a billion years old [the oldest Reaper found in the game is said to be that age] - he is still fully capable of exercising his own authority over the puny organic encroaching on his turf, but in seeing a Shepard who has succeeded in fully uniting the galaxy and finding a better solution to the problem of chaos, he concedes that Shepard, and by extension, his cycle, have passed the test and steps aside, giving us the ability to forge our own future.}}

*** {{spoiler|Assuming any single system somehow manages to find a few hundred TONS of element zero within sublight speed range to power a new relay...}}

*** There's also the fact that {{spoiler|in two out of three endings the Reapers are still around, and lack any motivation to continue the harvesting, and even the last one has their corpses intact, inert and harmless. It shouldn't be all that difficult to put them to work on a new Relay Network since they built it in the first place, can communicate with each other without the Comm Buoys, and owe a massive debt to the galaxy, or to study their remains and pull out all the tech and eezo required for new Mass Relays in a few years.}}

* Regarding the endings, specifically {{spoiler|Shepard being forced to take one of two Renegade interrupts to shoot the Illusive Man before he kills Shepard, if he can't be talked down - Stoping TIM from killing Anderson & Shepard would be Paragon interrupts throughout the rest of the series, but here it's a Renegade choice because it represents that Shepard is still willing to fight}}.

* Probably some of the the greatest examples in the {{spoiler|Synthesis}} ending that make it a [[Golden Ending]] if you lookedat in a certian way:

** First {{spoiler|due to the nature of the ending the cycle is broken and now all living beings have "advanced" to the next step.}}

** Secondly, {{spoiler|with all the collected knowledge of Mass Relays and Reapers and now the ability to interface with what use to be just machines on a personal level, it's possible that they could create a network of living mass relays. }}

** Optionally, depending on what you did during the game: Fourth {{spoiler|due to the fusion Geth and Quarians would be able understand each other better, bringing "racial" tensions to a peaceful resolution quickly.}}

* All Asari are [[Everyone Is Bi|bisexual]], right? There's a reason for that. They're an all female race. They don't know what it's like to discriminate based on gender, because they can't do it themselves.

* One of the many things people complain about ''[[Mass Effect 3|Mass Effect 3's]]'' ending is that {{spoiler|Joker is seen running away from the battle with the Normandy. They feel that he's being a coward and leaving Commander Shepard to die. However, Joker's actions mirror perfectly those from the beginning of the game: he is fleeing with the few people he can to bring some hope to the future. As far as he knows, Shepard is dead and the hope of defeating the Reapers is gone, so he does exactly what Shepard would do in his place, no matter how painful it is.}}

* Remember in [[ME 1]] when talking to {{spoiler|Sovereign it}} said {{spoiler|"We are each a nation"}}? Well {{spoiler|every Reaper is the preserved data of an organic race, or nation, from a previous cycle.}}

* When romancing Garrus, he often provides a bottle of some alcohol, despite the fact that dextro and levo species can't really eat each others' food/drink. However, Shepard has shown on many occasions that she is immune to poisons, so she'd have no problem drinking dextro alcohols without consequence.

* When you're {{spoiler|giving EDI access to all of the Normandy's controls, Joker mutters, "Now I'll be spending all day computing pi because I plugged in the overlord."}} Obviously, this refers to {{spoiler|how AIs are thought to conquer organics without a second thought}}, but it has a second meaning. {{spoiler|In the final battle of the Overlord DLC, if you take too long, David will upload to the Normandy and take over EDI, who has full control over the ship. In effect, the Overlord was plugged in, and Joker is now useless, relegated to computing pi and the square root of 912.04.}}

* There's actually a fair bit of logic in the abilities of your squadmates in ME2. Garrus was your Infiltrator swap in ME1, so he has a combat ability and a tech ability. Thane is an assassin, so he has the biotic abilities dedicated to killing people, instead of crowd control. Miranda was bred to be perfect, so she's the only squadmate who can take down all four forms of defence. Mordin is a scientist specializing in organics, so he has the two tech powers useful against organics. Tali grew up with a father who wanted war with the geth, and thus has abilities that take down shields and hack synthetics—two thinggs very useful in a fight against the geth. {{spoiler|Legion is a geth, so his powers consist of using his many runtimes to either hack other robots or to provide fire support. He's also a sniper, so having a drone to provide crowd control would be very helpful.}} My two favorites however, are Zaeed and Jack. Zaeed has spent most of his life trying to take down the Blue Suns. As any Adept will tell you through gritted teeth, the Blue Suns all use Shields. So, it makes perfect sense that he's the only squad member who can use disruptor ammo, which is specifically designed to take down shields. Jack is the absolute best, so just stay with me. Some people in the ME universe consider biotics to be an evolution of humanity, some kind of higher form of existance (think mutants from X-men). In other words, to use Harbinger's words, biotics are humanity's GENETIC DESTINY. Harbinger constantly taunts Shepard with those particular words, and it is eventually revealed that ''his'' idea for humanity's genetic destiny involves either {{spoiler|being turned into a Reaper or becoming a slave race like the Protheans.}} Jack is the most powerful human biotic in the galaxy. In other words, she has already reached humanity's genetic destiny; she is a higher form of human... sort of. So, whose powers are the absolute best at fighting off the agents of the Reapers? Who is best at preserving humanity's own genetic destiny and staving off the destiny that the Reapers had in mind? Well, with Shockwave (best move for taking down husks) and Warp Ammo (specifically designed to take down barriers, armor and health. If those sound familiar, they are the only form of defence that the Collectors use), Jack is the absolute best squadmate to take on the Collector missions in the game. Hell, Harbinger doesn't even stand a chance against humanity's own genetic destiny.

** This Troper was also somewhat disappointed, but then played as a renegade character and found that Joker actually does have one line, {{spoiler|when the asteroid is set to crash the relay and instead of warning the colony you call the ''Normandy'', Joker tries to answer.}}

* This took me waay too long, but Shepard's name is obviously a reference to how she has to get everyone moving in the right direction constantly, and without her they tend to wander off like confused sheep... (eg: the Council). Plus the obvious historical references.

* During the endgame of ''ME1'', Saren is marching into the {{spoiler|Council chambers}} and takes a potshot at one of the Keepers that maintain the station. Why did he do that, other than generally being a grouch? {{spoiler|Sovereign was frustrated that the Keepers had not functioned as they were designed to, and was taking it out on them via Saren.}}

* Your squadmates in the first game each represent one of the classes: Ashley is a Soldier (all combat), Kaiden is a Sentinel (tech/biotic), Wrex is a Vanguard (combat/biotic), Garrus is an Infiltrator (combat/tech), Tali is an Engineer (all tech), and Liara is an Adept (all biotic). There are some differences, but the basics are there. - [[Tropers/Tera Chimera|Tera Chimera]]

** Garrus and Wrex are trained in Assault Rifles, which are normally only available to Shepard as a Soldier. This is because in both of their societies, Garrus and Wrex were trained as soldiers. Also, without this training, Assault Rifles would be near-useless to any Shepard ''besides'' a Soldier. This way, you can at least hand them off to a squadmate.

** Garrus gets Adrenaline Rush instead of Immunity, which makes him more of a [[Glass Cannon]] than Infiltrator!Shepard but allows him to [[Fragile Speedster|spam tech and weapon skills]] (i.e. [[Boom! Headshot!|Assassination]]) much faster.

* It now occurs to this Troper that ME2 has a ''huge'' theme of death, life and resurrection:

** Shepard died and is resurrected at the beginning of the game.

** The first place Shepard goes to of her/his own volition is Omega, to Afterlife. To pick up Archangel and a doctor.

*** Omega is the final letter of the Greek alphabet, the end. Make of that what you will, but Omega is known to have a pretty high death rate...

** Garrus—when you first pick him up he's killing people. Not that unusual, except he's probably the only one apart from possibly Thane who's actively killing people while you're getting his quest. Also, {{spoiler|his vigilante name is Archangel.}}

** Jack—has an enormous omega symbol on her back.

** The krogans and the quarians—both races trying to restore (to resurrect?) themselves.

** The Reapers in general—the ultimate death dealers, but it seems that {{spoiler|they kill to create life.}}

** The name becomes even more meaningful when you consider her relationship to the Illusive Man in [[Mass Effect 2]]. He's very much a father-figure to her, more than her real father ever was, and she's the only person ever seen in the same room with him. So if she's Miranda, that would make him [[The Tempest|Prospero]]...

*** ...and make Shepard Ferdinand — whether or not you romance her, Miranda will side with Shepard rather than The Illusive Man should you decide to destroy the Collector Base. If she's with you in that final battle, she'll even tell off the Illusive Man directly, before cutting the communication.

** That's clearly stated like a hundred times during, before and after the mission.

* The first real break Shepard has regarding the Collector attacks on human settlements is when Horizon, a colony in the Shadow Sea cluster, goes dark. The Illusive Man immediately contacts the ''Normandy'' when Horizon's communications go down to send them there. He caught the information so quickly, in fact, that Shepard and crew manage to get there before the Collectors even finish gathering their victims. Then, along comes ''Mass Effect 3.'' Three guesses which cluster the Illusive Man's main base is.

* Try starting a new game of the original ''[[Mass Effect (video game)|Mass Effect]]'' and pay close attention to what Lt. Jenkins says... ''everything'' he says is foreshadowing the upcoming events.

** One of the things he says is that if a Spectre goes rogue, the Council will send another Spectre to deal with him. Chakwas dismisses this as romantic fantasy from a naive kid who watches too many vids. Turns out, that's exactly what ''does'' happen: Saren goes rogue, and Shepard is sent to take him down.

* Why did Wilson go so far with the mech reprogramming at the Lazarus facility? Because he's trying to murder Shepard in the middle of a lab ''designed to bring the dead back to life.'' Shepard is brought in as a charred corpse and succesfully resurrected, so no amount of drugs, poisons or even bullets would have worked - they'd have patched Shepard right up. In order for the murder to really ''take'', he had to destroy everything: the staff, the notes, the tech, all of it. Only by razing the entire Lazarus project to the ground would Shepard truly be dead.

* During the Suicide Mission, you have to get through a room full of Seeker Swarms by having one of your biotics put up a forcefield. On a replay, I took Legion along with me, and I noticed that he seemed to not take particularly much care to stay inside the field during combat. This could just be an AI bug (I haven't noticed it happen with any of the organic team mates), but let's go with the explanation that Legion would be effectively immune to the swarms, given that he's synthetic, and thus could edge through the barrier without risk.

* In ''ME2'', we find out about the Bahak relay, another relay with the ability to connect to every other relay. Why is this important? Because it shows that the Reapers, being the [[Genre Savvy]] mecha-cthulhu's that they are, were clever enough to build what is essentially a back up Citadel in case they weren't able to get to the original.

* While playing through Mass Effect 1 and romancing Kaidan, I was wondering at how reserved the relationship seemed before Udina grounds the Normandy and the crew heads to Ilos. There was plenty of flirting and questions about the relationship, but really no signs of physical affection. It's the same when Ashley is romanced. So what's going on here? Then it hit me and the answer was so obvious it made me [[Face Palm]]. Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley are all Alliance soldiers on an Alliance ship. Shepard is Ashley/Kaiden's commanding officer and fooling around with your subordinates while on a mission is a HUGE military no-no. They can talk about where they'll take their relationship when the mission is finished, but are holding back for now due to protocol. It is only after the council screws Shepard over and the team is willing to sacrifice everything to go after Saren that Shepard and his/her love interest essentially decide "Screw it, we might not have another chance." and take things to the next level.

** There's a really good example of the whole species becomes homogenous with time in Joe Haldeman's novel ''The Forever War''. I think you'd probably like it.

** In Kurt Vonnegut's [[Galapagos]], the whole human race devolves and becomes furry, essentially homogenous.

** That ''can't'' be coincidence. You, good fellow, win an internet for observance and win Bible studies forever.

** Actually just the result of thematically study the plot of the second game and applying it to real-world world religions to gain a better understanding of why Shepard does what they do. This lead to the biblical parable of "The Good Shepherd" from the New Testament, given the name of our protagonist it seemed apt given the messianic creep of the second game, whilst the parable itself actually refers heavily to the above passage from Ezekiel in the Old Testament. That it actually had a ton of insane coincidences was remarkable. It was just some interpretation and research from someone with too much time on their hands, but I'll take that internet observance award with pride.

* In the Mass Effect 3 demo we can see we can see a Systems Alliance Dreadnought hovering just a few hundred meters off the ground getting blown up by a Reaper. Considering the likely size of its Element Zero core and what codex-savvy players already know about the [[Body Horror|effects of prenatal eezo exposure]], the battles over the skies of Earth may cause more damage and anguish than immediately obvious.

* In ME2, when you visit the Migrant Fleet, you learn that the Quarians insist on calling Shepard "[[The Captain|Captain]]" Shepard, based on their own customs due to him being the captain of his ship, despite his human rank being "Commander." This is a mark of great respect amongst their people. Admiral Xen, [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably the least sympathetic of the Admirals]], is the only Quarian who doesn't know you from elsewhere that refers to you as ''Commander''. Snub on her part?

* When Liara shares her memories with Shepherd, what we see is a black background that's bisected by white light that slowly grows wider until it fills the screen. This is Liara's first memory, ''of being born.''

* ''Quarians'' are essentially ''quaran''t''i''ned in their suits.

* The Geth on Rannoch: {{spoiler|They face a race, the Quarians, that intend to completely exterminate them, and whom they cannot defeat alone, or beg, barter, or appease away. So, faced with extinction, they make a deal with their past enemies, the Reapers, to stave off imminent extinction - running the risk that they will those allies will revert to form and destroy them. Not only is that the exact reasoning a computer would make (0.0% chance of survival vs. 0.000001%), but it parallels Paragon Shepard's story. S/he, faced with a similar existential threat, flies around the galaxy making deals with Rachni, Krogan, and the Geth - trading current risk for future risk.}}

* The reason Hackett delivered the final [[Rousing Speech]] in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' instead of Shepard (who brought them home in the previous games) was that where he (the Admiral) ended it with "Hackett out", Shepard's speech would have gone something like "Stand fast. Stand strong. Stand together. [[Memetic Mutation|I should go.]]" That would be terrible.

* Coming back from the dead, the title "Spectre" suddenly fits Shepard so well.

* Saren was a rogue Spectre who ended up cybernetically enhanced by a race who wants to destroy all races. Not to mention that he deeply believed in the merging of both organic and synthetic evolution. Shepard was (for a time) a rogue Spectre who is also cybernetically enhanced by a race (or at least TIM and Cerberus and extremists) who wants supreme control over all races. Oh the irony...

** On a more minor note, but ships named Normandy featured a door in the front that opened by dropping down to form a ramp. Kind of like the landing boats used by the Allies during the Battle of Normandy.

* In [[Mass Effect 3]], Garrus tells Joker a turian joke about humans hiring pilots with brittle bone disease, which made me wonder where they got the idea for that from. Then it occurred to me that the original Normandy was co-designed by humans and turians. ''Of course'' they would know about Joker.

* Jacob's situation on Arrae is the exact opposite of how his father ended up after the Gernsback crashed. Ronald put himself at the top of the food chain and relied on the toxic food to render everyone else mentally incapable of resisting. Jaocb, by contrast, becomes an actual leader to the Cerberus defectors, risking life and limb for them and their families and ensuring they can do make the most of their intelligence.

* Why are Geth Weapons so effective against Reaper forces in both Single and Multiplayer? Because they do NOT follow the path of technological development that the Reapers intended.

* [[Fridge Horror]], this time around. Remember how Sovereign could take the full punishment of several dreadnoughts without its shields failing? Well, think back to the "Issac Newton" speech in the second game. Each shot from a dreadnought has about three times the yield as [[Hiroshima as a Unit of Measure|the city buster dropped on Hiroshima]]. That means ''Sovereign could take multiple nukes to the face without flinching.'' Even weapons capable of ''leveling entire cities'' are [[Nigh Invulnerable|not enough to stop a Reaper]]. The closest we've seen to a weapon that could destroy a Reaper also tore a good chunk of planet off at the same time, and it ''still'' left a semi-operational wreck as opposed to complete vaporization like you'd expect. And we're going to be fighting ''thousands'' of these guys when ''ME3'' comes around...

** It were cruisers, not dreadnaughts. The only dreadnought we actually see in the game is the Ascension, and there is a high possibility that there weren't any dreadnoughts beyond the Ascension involved in the battle in the first place. Sadly, we don't know what exact firepower cruisers have, but it is likely that it is far weaker than that of a dreadnought.

** Which can lead to [[Fridge Horror]] [[Your Mileage May Vary|depending on your point of view]]- that mass accelators and Reapers may actually exist, and we're just basically counting down our days until they start wiping out life as we know it... 'course this is just [[Wild Mass Guessing]]...

** It certainly adds a new level of unnerving to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter- it has a similar overall composition to "terrestrial" planets...

*** But keep in mind, these are ''Citadel'' personnel. With all the space traffic going in and out of the sector, there's a much higher chance of hitting a ship than a mere asteroid!

** Keeping this speech in mind, watch the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlhaDUmL9Ac&t=156 space battle for Earth] in [[Mass Effect 3]]. Look, how many missiles miss the Reapers. And continue flying in Earth's direction. Oh crap.

** Listen closely to {{spoiler|Vigil. He says that he waited for the Reapers to leave the galaxy again before he woke up the surviving members of the prothean team, making it impossible for them to be captured by said Reapers. }}

* And then think about the Keepers... after the last mass extinction the station would have been uninhabitable... but the Keepers stayed around until the asari found it. They didn't need food or water, so whatever was done to the Collectors ''was also done to the Keepers''. Just listen to the description of the Collectors:

* One planet mentions that 127,000 years ago it was the site of a battle between the Isunannon and the Thor'han. We know the Thorian is more than 100,000 years old and encountered both the Protheans and the Isunannon. Given the similarity between the two names, the fact that most names do become corrupted over time, or possibly was simply mistranslated, it leads to one horrifying thought. The Thorian may once have had access to ''starships'' and attempted to take over the Galaxy.

** Remember what Joker the Colonists were trying to do? They were desperate to try to get onboard the ''Normandy''. They were trying this ''again''.

** Except that the {{spoiler|beam from the Citadel is just a tad different to crashing a small moon at a Mass Relay}} while that outcome is a possibility. Given this is Sci-Fi it's realistically not the singular outcome.

* That "Rogue VI" on Luna that you destroyed in the first game {{spoiler|was actually EDI before she was augmented with Reaper tech. The same EDI who is standing right next to you when this is revealed. Good thing she doesn't seem to hold a grudge about it.}}

** Eve can actually spell this out for you.

 

 

** There's a pretty significant time delay between letting Aresh go and blowing up the facility, and the Blood Pack troops didn't sprout from the firmament. Aresh likely ran back to the ships they used to get there and hightailed it out.

*** {{spoiler|If you let him go, Aresh is confirmed via an e-mailed news report to have died fighting off Reaper ground forces to give time for another civilian shuttle to evacuate, so he did in fact make it out alive.}}

** Hey, you forgot [[The Scrappy|Jacob]] with that last bit... Just like everyone else. Except [[No Accounting for Taste|Kasumi]].

*** Well, she only wants him for his body.

** The point being that [[BioWare]] did it [[Troll|intentionally]].

*** So we get that ending because Bioware is staffed with fans of [[Lost]]? [[Sarcasm Mode|That certainly makes it better, right?]]

* [[Your Mileage May Vary]], as this was deserved, but Shepard's [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] to Sovereign: "You're not even alive. Not really. You're just a machine, and machines can be broken," comes off slightly worse when viewed in light of Legion and EDI.

* The Omniblade actually isn't a new development for ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. After all, look at Kasumi whenever she uses Shadow Strike. She's striking at enemies with her omnitool! So those things can be pretty nasty weapons as early as ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''.

** According to the Codex the tech is almost as old as Omnitools and a standard app, but until the Reaper invasion and the necessity of fighting Husks in close combat everyone thought it was an idiot's weapon. Except Kasumi apparently.

** So the flora screws up more than just your brain?

** Either that, or none of the women were allowed to carry to term, which opens up a whole other can of [[Fridge Horror]].

* That damn kid at the ending. Okay, Shepard was watching him at the start of the game, and is understandably torn up the Reapers killed him. But is Shepard really that badly affected by it? Really? It's not like it was Shepard's son or anything.

** One explanation is that Shepard's been under house arrest for seven months by this time and their room overlooks that kids house. Shepard has likely seen or heard that kid playing a couple times, then had to watch helplessly as they got vaporised. Which, when you look at it, is the entire theme of the nightmare.

 

[[Category:Video Games/Fridge]]