Mass Effect 2/Tropes A-F: Difference between revisions

 

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* [[419 Scam]]: Shepard gets at least two different versions in his/her email during the game, along with {{spoiler|an adaptation of the popular Christian inspirational piece "Footprints", featuring a drell and the Hanar Enkindlers}}.

* [[Abandoned Hospital]]: The setting for Mordin's loyalty mission. Complete with a [[Mad Scientist]] who is [[Playing with Syringes]] in order to {{spoiler|try and cure the genophage}}.

* [[The Alcatraz]] [[In Space]]!: The ''Purgatory'' prison ship.

* [[Alien Non-Interference Clause]]: There really isn't one in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe, but that doesn't stop Mordin from saying that there should be, citing the fiasco with the krogan as the reason why.

** Averted during Tali's loyalty mission, there is ''quarian'' writing in multiple places.

* [[Alliteration]]: If you complete the Mess Sargent's sidequest, he lets you know that the provisions you provided were perfect.

* [[All Women Are Lustful]]: A very mild example, but in the game's romance paths it's always the women who initiate the relationship. For the male romances, if you keep talking to your female squadmates, you'll eventually have to accept or reject their advances. For the female romances, as long as you avoid dialog choices, you can interact with them almost entirely the same as you would playing a male.

* [[Almost Kiss]]: While playing as a female Shepard, you can romance Garrus. Right before the final mission, you have a scene, where, after some awkward talking and comforting, she presses her forehead to his, probably because kissing for real could cause allergic reactions for them both. Plus, [[Bizarre Alien Biology|he doesn't have lips, and has razor-sharp fangs]]. This is also as close as you can get to romancing Samara.

* [[Ancient Grome]]: One of the clusters in the game is named the Minos Wasteland, probably after the legendary king of Crete (Greek mythology). The two solar systems (and the various planets they contain) in the cluster (Caestus, Fortis, Vir, Aequitas...) have Latin names.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: What happens to victims of a seeker swarm. They're fully aware of their surroundings, but unable to move or speak.

** This is revealed to be the fate of the {{spoiler|entire Prothean race, having been turned into the Collectors to act as subservient slaves to the Reapers. Although, by the time of ''Mass Effect 2'', it's unclear just how aware of this they are}}.

** And completing Kasumi's loyalty mission allows Shepard to wear the formal wear from the party. Dude!Shep's is just a retexture of the existing cerberus dress uniform (albiet a lot slicker), but Fem!Shep's? [[Fetish Fuel|Oh]] [[Little Black Dress|yeah.]]

* [[Anti-Grinding]]: Big-time. There aren't many places where enemies continually respawn, the places that do have limited ammo supplies make farming unfeasible, and there are ''no'' rewards for individual kills... only missions provide experience.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: {{spoiler|In the DLC ''Arrival'', Shepard causes a Class X-2 by destroying a mass relay, which causes a supernova-level explosion that completely obliterates its star system}}.

* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: Used extensively: almost every time you visit the site of an enemy attack, abandoned space station or expedition [[Gone Horribly Wrong]], you can bet you'll find some data logs or video recordings of the victims describing events that lead up to their fatal end. Most notably, this is used during both Tali and Jacob's loyalty missions as well as on board {{spoiler|the derelict Reaper}}.

* [[Arbitrary Headcount Limit]]: You can have up to twelve squadmates, but you can only ever have two with you. The [[Suicide Mission]] at least tries to work around the limitation: {{spoiler|first by you leading a small, surgical strike while the rest of the team makes for a heavily armed diversion, then they hold the line against the [[Mook]]s as you go on to fight the [[Big Bad]]}}.

** There's also the main villain, [[Meaningful Name|Harbinger]], who repeatedly says something to the effect of "We are the harbinger of your genetic destiny." The words "genetic destiny" show up in other places too, such as the confrontation with the ardat-yakshi, a dangerous asari mutant.

** Multiple people say something along the lines of "you may not agree with my methods, but you have to admit I'm doing this for a good reason/I get results."

* [[Ascended Meme]]:

** Blasto the first hanar Spectre. Started as a joke made by one of the devs in response to questions regarding new companions. Ended up having a movie made about him, Blaxploitation/Dirty Harry style, complete with the Hanar Anti-Defamation League getting all riled up about it. "This one has forgotten whether its heat sink is over-capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate. This one does not have time for your solid waste excretions."

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDCCKWuW-yc I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite][https://web.archive.org/web/20111227192249/http://biowarestore.com/mass-effect/mass-effect-mens-tshirts/shepards-favorite-t-shirt shirt on the Citadel].

** In the ''Arrival'' DLC, the descriptive text specifically says Shepard will 'assume control' of a LOKI to break out of the med bay.

** If Shepard romanced Liara in the first game and then Garrus in the second, a conversation can be had with Liara in ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' referencing Garrus' infamous [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjCO0thvlNY "calibrations"] line:

{{quote|'''Shepard:''' I came ''back''.

* [[Assimilation Plot]]: Conversations with {{spoiler|Legion}} indicate that this is the ultimate goal for both {{spoiler|the Reapers and the geth. The geth are a machine race that become stronger and smarter in proximity and are, thus, afraid of individuality. The Reapers are ancient machines that possess thousands of programs in their cores and, as shown by the game's climax, are composed of millions if not billions of organic beings. The Reapers are thus seen as the pinnacle of evolution by the geth, but the geth disagree about whether to follow a path already trodden or discover their own}}.

* [[Asteroid Thicket]]: The Collectors' base of operations {{spoiler|is set in the accretion disc of the black hole at the center of the galaxy, surrounded by the wreckage of ''every ship that has failed to make it through the relay since its construction''}}.

* [[Attack Drone]]: [[The Engineer]] player class, Tali and {{spoiler|Legion}} can summon one of their own. Several enemy types can also summon them.

** Subversion: Tali has [[Baldur's Gate|"Go for the optics!"]] as one of her battle cries, referring to her pet combat drone. The combat drone doesn't seem to target specific body parts.

* [[Avengers Assemble]]: A large part of the game is an extended Avengers Assemble sequence. Besides the ones who are with you from the start (and the DLC ones who just arrange a meeting), most of your squadmates are busy on jobs of their own when you first meet, allowing them to show off before you can even take them into action.

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]:

* [[Badass]]: Shepard is recognized as such in universe.

{{quote|'''Garrus:''' The Collectors killed you, and all they did was piss you off. I almost feel sorry for the Reapers.}}

{{quote|'''Shepard:''' We are on a mission! You can either stand with me or be crushed beneath my heel, but you will '''not get in my way'''!}}

** Paragon Shepard makes quite a few of these as well.

* [[Badass Crew]]: Most of the plot revolves around assembling one of these. Even the Cerberus servicemen aboard the new ''Normandy'' count; near the climax, they try to hold off {{spoiler|Collectors with small arms to give Joker enough time to reach EDI}}. Hawthorne even {{spoiler|charges a car-sized Scion enemy with a pistol}}.

* [[Bad Guy Bar]]: Afterlife. Presumably, every single bar in [[Wretched Hive|Omega]] qualifies, but Afterlife gets special mention because it's where Aria T'Loak, self-appointed ruler of Omega, makes her base of operations. Also overlaps with [[Bikini Bar]].

* [[Band of Brothers]]: The game revolves around turning your party into this. Hell, the Illusive Man even ''calls'' them an "unlikely band of brothers" in the Blur cinematic trailer.

* [[The Bartender]]: A few of them. One is a turian on the Citadel, not really that memorable except for the fact that he subverts the whole "collector of gossip" trope, and that he provides Shepard with a [[Gargle Blaster]]. Another is a batarian on Omega who tries to kill you. But the best is [[Cool Old Lady|Matriach Aethyta]] on Illium, who provides a memorable [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason We Suck Speech]] against her ''entire species''. [[Dirty Old Woman|And she's remembered for other things as well]].

** It's used to mess with the player in {{spoiler|the 'derelict' Collector ship. Up until the ambush, you'll be passing a LOT of chest-high walls that would make for good cover in a firefight, but see no Collectors until after you trigger the trap}}.

** On Korlus they at least make sense, seeing that the mercenaries were conducting live-fire training. Arguably also [[Justified Trope|justified]] in a few other places, where you co-opt your enemy's defensive barricades as you advance.

* [[BFG]]:

** The Blackstorm Projector and the M-920 Cain, which are, respectively, essentially a ''portable black hole gun'' and a ''very-powerful rail-gun marketed as a mini-nuke launcher'' (the description actually says that it isn't, in spite of the radiation symbol emblazoned on its side).

** At the naval level, there's the Thanix Cannon as well as the large mass accelerators carried by dreadnoughts.

* [[Big Bad Ensemble]]: Between Harbinger and the Shadow Broker.

** Zaeed mentions this when you first meet him on Omega:

{{quote|'''Zaeed:''' Good. Let's get that done so we can concentrate on being [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Goddamn Heroes]]}}

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: How much so depends on the player... [[Earn Your Happy Ending|unless you break your back to ensure that nobody gets left behind]].

* [[Bland-Name Product]]: The game salesman in the Citadel makes several [[Take That|comments about gaming]], including one referring to "'''G'''rim '''T'''erminus '''A'''lliance" and how the [[Moral Guardians]] complain about it too much.

** The crew of the ''Hugo Gernsback'' was apparently ''way'' ahead of the curve, as all of them use the two-year-old thermal clip technology on weapons that are at ''least'' ten years old.

* [[Bleak Level]]: Normandy crash site. See [[Blind Jump]] below.

'''EDI:''' Please specify a destination.

'''Joker:''' ''Anywhere that's not here!''}}

{{quote|"No two species are identical. All must be judged on their own merits. Treating every species like one's own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphism."}}

** Depending on your morality, Mordin may come off as this. Initially, he seems amoral and a typical "get the job done" type of character, remaking the krogan genophage and stating that killing bad guys is his preferred method of conflict resolution. However, if you press him on the issue, you find out that he genuinely does think the genophage was the only way both krogan and the rest of the galaxy could've lived, and was determined not to hurt the krogan any more than he had to. Also, despite being a cold operator, if you have him on certain missions, he'll be shocked at any brutality you come across. Perhaps not totally incomprehensible, but it can be difficult to relate to.

** On a similar level, Thane's beliefs regarding the separation between his mind and his body, and the distinction that leads him to make regarding actions his ''body'' took versus things he holds himself personally accountable for, come across as quite alien and can be difficult for both Shepard and the player to wrap their minds around.

* [[Bond One-Liner]]: Many Renegade interrupts have these.

{{quote|'''Mercenary:''' I've got nothing more to say to you.

''Shepard shoves the mercenary through a window, letting him fall to his death.''

'''Shepard:''' How about "goodbye"?}}

** Also, the interactive comic book at the start of the [[Play Station 3]] version. The comic starts with Shepard mentioning how the events of the first game began with a routine mission. After spending about fifteen minutes telling the story of how that mission led into a quest to save the entire galaxy, s/he explains how afterwards the Council sent him/her on a clean up mission to route any remnants of Saren's army. The line s/he uses as the comic finishes?

{{quote|'''Shepard:''' Just another routine mission.}}

* [[Boom! Headshot!]]: The improved sniping means headshots result in massive damage, compliments from your squad mates, and a visual confirmation of your prowess with a gush of [[Chunky Salsa Rule|Chunky Salsa]].

** Also the easiest and most satisfying way to take down mechs. FENRIS and LOKI mechs explode, whereas [[Humongous Mecha|YMIRs]] explode like a shot from the [[Everything Makes a Mushroom|M-920 Cain]].

** Also, the pistol. Doesn't have the range of the sniper rifle, the fire rate of the assault rifle/submachine gun, or the stopping power of the shotgun, but doesn't have any of the major drawbacks of those weapons either. There's a reason every playable class has one.

** Biotic powers are awesome, but the only one that damages [[Contractual Boss Immunity|shields and barriers]] is the basic direct damage Warp ability, which does do impressive damage but has a very long cool-down meaning low DPS while also leaving you helpless against other enemies. After you finally remove the protections using a combination of Warp, your little pistol, the engineer squad members you brought along just for this and a lot of cursing, tearing the target's unprotected flesh to pieces with your mind is [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|cathartic]].

* [[Bragging Rights Reward]]: Have you completed ''Mass Effect Galaxy'' and attached it to your EA profile? You might be wondering just what it unlocks in this game. It basically just gives Jacob and Miranda a few more in-battle quotes than they normally have.

* [[Brainwashed]]: Common theme, including {{spoiler|the Reapers'}} indoctrination of {{spoiler|the entire Prothean race, as well as the Heretic Geth in a... heroic example}}? Also, {{spoiler|[[Death by Sex|ardat-yakshi]]}}.

** Played straight with {{spoiler|Dr. Amanda Kenson}}.

* [[Breaking the Fellowship]]: After Shepard's disappearance, the old squad is scattered. Only a few rejoin you; most either refuse to work with Cerberus or have their own agendas they need to pursue. [[Berserk Button|This includes the person you romanced]], who [[BioWare]] graciously allows you to see again... provided it's Liara and you're willing to pay $10 for the DLC (though to be fair this depends on the version of the game as [[Play Station 3]] owners already have the majority of the DLC missions, Liara's included, on the disc).

* [[Bribing Your Way to Victory]]: The Equalizer, Aegis, and Firepower [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] packs, which all include new weapons and/or armor, some of which was previously only available as a pre-order bonus.

** The "Power Gamer" achievement for reaching Level 30 typically required starting a [[New Game+]] to reach. If a player buys ''all'' the DLC missions and does everything in the galaxy, it is easily doable however.

** A subtle one. In the first game, Ashley says that whenever someone says "With all due respect..." they are really saying "Kiss my ass". During Tali's loyalty mission, a possible response to the Admiralty Board's thanks for representing a member of the Migrant Fleet (Tali) is "With all due respect, Admiral, I didn't represent one of your people. I represented one of mine."

** There's a brief but much less justifiable one on Haestrom ("Recruit Tali"). A geth ship bombards the area, causing a column to fall and block your access to the door you need to get through. Shepard and co. must fight off many, many geth to recover two demolition charges to remove the obstacle. Apparently, they either don't see the four feet of open space between the top of the obstruction and the bottom of the arch, or they don't think they can [[Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence|climb over the chest-high debris]] despite the presence of many crates, etc, that could be used as stepping stones.

* [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]: In the worst ending, you will succeed in stopping the Collectors... at [[Anyone Can Die|the cost of Shepard and the entire squad]]. Fair trade-off? Probably not.

** It's notable, that the soldier can slow down time in two separate ways: The aforementioned Adrenaline Rush, and whenever they sprint. Evolving Adrenaline Rush into Heightened Adrenaline Rush and using it while sprinting, will make any missiles or all of Harbinger's attacks, literally freeze in place.

* [[Bury Your Gays]]: Figuratively. Like [[Mass Effect (video game)|its predecessor]], there is a great deal of same-sex content written and voice-acted for both men and women, and [[Dummied Out|still remaining on the game disks]], but it can only be dug out with editor programs. Also literally for Nef in Samara's loyalty quest, and potentially for {{spoiler|Kelly Chambers and even female Shepard if she chooses to [[Death by Sex|romance Morinth]] (though the same happens to a male Shepard)}}.

** Also, if you've become close to more than one romantic partner, then at least one will repeat the same lines over and over, waiting for you to break it off with the other(s). This occurs no matter which options you pick, and makes them impossible to converse with.

** More esoterically: when you first obtain Legion, your options are "Hand it over to Cerberus [[For Science!]]" or "Let me talk to it first." The [[Exact Words]] of the latter imply that you've merely deferred the decision and can still package it up ''after'' activating it (which is far more [[Jerkass|Renegade]] if you [[Fridge Logic|think about it]]), but no: if you take that option, Legion joins your party. Period.

* [[Canned Orders Over Loudspeaker]]: When you first arrive on Korlus, you hear a Blue Suns commander giving these out to the mercenaries under her command. Various squadmates lampshade this, with Jacob (or [[Downloadable Content|Zaeed]]) providing the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Canon Immigrant]]: Feron, a drell mercenary that first appeared in the ''Mass Effect: Redemption'' comic series, first appears in the series proper in ''{{spoiler|Lair of the Shadow Broker}}''.

** 9/10 times when someone says something on the lines of 'we're under attack!' you will have gathered this already as you'll be knee-deep in a firefight.

* [[Cargo Ship]]: In-universe. If Shepard isn't in a romantic relationship, Mordin notes that there are rumors about Joker and EDI. Kasumi also says they are [[Like an Old Married Couple]], and Shepard can also point it out in the cockpit... to which EDI will reply its more like [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|platonic bonding than hormonally-induced courtship behaviour]].

** The ladders in the Tech Lab and AI Core.

** All the squadmates give subtle indicators as to what special tasks they're good at (or not good at) in the [[Suicide Mission]] over the course of the game. Some are readily apparent, like {{spoiler|Tali being a good choice for the tunnel techie, but her inability to get Prazza to heel indicates she's not good leadership material. Garrus managed to lead a squad of vigilantes and royally pissed off almost all the powers that be in Omega, so that indicates good leadership and thus is a good secondary team leader (although there was also that one time where everyone on his squad got killed because one of them wasn't loyal). Mordin's comments on Kirrahe's "[[Hold the Line]]" speech indicate he's probably best to send back with the ''Normandy'' survivors. Zaeed's stories imply that a) he's a good choice to be left to hold the line and b) he's completely unsuited to be the second fireteam leader. And a very subtle one: Miranda says she's a powerful biotic, yet we never see her do anything spectacular with her powers. She's proven too weak during the barrier sequence, while the best choices, Samara and Jack, are shown doing amazing stuff with biotics. However, Miranda is one of the correct choices to be the second Fire Team leader, as hinted by one of her top bonus ability branches being "Cerberus Leader"}}.

** Outside of the trial, Renegade Shepard uses them frequently along with [[Insane Troll Logic]] in order to intimidate people who try to logically defend their positions.

* [[Clarke's Third Law]]: Tech abilities. They are referred to as such: throwing a firebomb is announced as 'deploying incineration tech'. Also, tech users tend to have [[Tron Lines|glowing]] yellow [[Instant Runes|holographic diagrams]] surrounding them.

* [[Combination Attack]]: Using Lift (or Slam, if you're quick enough) will enable two of these: first, it increases the damage they receive from being shot by any weapon. And second: any lifted enemy will actually explode with great force, if you use Warp on them. The latter is ''the'' best way to deal with groups of enemies, but many players miss out because they like to just let the AI handle ally powers.

* [[The Comically Serious]]: EDI and Legion, who would like to remind you that geth do not intentionally infiltrate. The Shadow Broker's dossier on Mordin's STG mission to deliver the modified genophage duly notes Mordin and Kirrahe suggesting that their cloaca is blocked, that their cranium is, in fact, in their cloaca, and how tough their cloacas are.

** [[The Captain]]: Commander Shepard.

** [[Number Two]]: Miranda officially, although Garrus and Joker can serve in a similar capacity.

* [[Conspicuous Consumption]]: Donovan Hock, and pretty much the rest of the Bekenstein upperclass.

* [[Continue Your Mission, Dammit!]]: "Ready for another round? Hit the Keystone, Shepard." Yes, Grunt, we get it.

{{quote|"And be sure to see the production live: an unforgettable fourteen-hour experience!"}}

** During the ''Stolen Memory'' DLC, you can see one of the cutscenes (featuring Nax the Krogan) from ''Mass Effect Galaxy'' playing on a vid-screen.

* [[Conversation Casualty]]: It is possible to end one subquest by talking to a mechanic repairing a plot-important weapon, asking him about what is going on and then ending the chat by stabbing one of his electric tools into his back.

* [[Conviction by Contradiction]]: Nyxeris is ousted as a spy based solely on Shepard's ability to spot a contradiction in the information she provided to her boss. Rather than being "convicted", however, she is executed in cold-blood.

* [[Critical Annoyance]]: The screen grows redder and your heartbeat becomes loud and erratic when you lose your shields and are low on health.

** The blaring klaxon when the Hammerhead is low on health definitely qualifies as well. If you fail to heed THAT warning, the entire vehicle will [[Damage Is Fire|burst into flame]] (regardless of the nature of the damage taken) as a final bid to grab your attention.

** The [[Suicide Mission]] if everyone gets out alive is a clear example of this trope.

** The final boss, if you bring along the [[Nuke'Em|Cain]].

** In the ''Arrival'' DLC, after waking up from being sedated for two days (because the sedative just [[Immune to Drugs|stopped]] [[Acquired Poison Immunity|working]]), Shepard proceeds to tear apart an entire facility filled with elite assault troopers and heavy mechs... [[One-Man Army|all by]] [[Badass|him/herself]].

** A humorous example when Niftu Cal, the biotic god, goes up against Captain Wasea, an asari commando who are generally considered to be the deadliest fighters in the galaxy. He throws one biotic "attack" against her which just bounces off her nose. She follows up by killing him with a single biotic throw.

** In the [[Suicide Mission]], the Collectors are easily dispatched with one or two shots, while they can take almost a whole clip from an assault rifle in gameplay. Ditto enemy krogan.

** Shepard's Murder Pistol, a distant cousin of Dragon Age's Murder Knife.

** Also, the game's worst ending (where Shepard dies) officially never happened. It's more of a ''very long'' [[Nonstandard Game Over]].

** The exception to this is your encounter with Conrad Verner. Due to a glitch, ''Mass Effect 1'' corrupts the part of the save file that records what you did to Verner in that game, so the developers made ''Mass Effect 2'' always assume that you threatened to kill Verner in the first game, since that led to the more interesting scenario in the second (the original idea was that if you didn't threaten Verner in ''Mass Effect 1'', you wouldn't encounter him in ''Mass Effect 2'').

** Averted by Shepard, especially if s/he is Paragon. As a general rule, cybernetic implants are fairly standard treatment for severe enough injuries, and are not treated as morally or spiritually problematic.

* [[Damage Is Fire]]: The Hammerhead.

** The "E" key changed from "use/interact" to "send henchman #2 here", causing a lot of unnecessary running around and taking cover.

** Also, since the "W" key is Move Forward, the finger slipping and touching the "Q" button is common too.

** On the Xbox 360, ''Mass Effect 1'' and ''Mass Effect 2'' also switch around the "leave orbit" and "leave Galaxy Map" buttons (B and X).

** Going back from ''Mass Effect 2'' to ''Mass Effect 1'' on the Xbox 360 also can result in a lot of grenades being thrown pointlessly after a fight. Grenades use the back button, which in ''Mass Effect 2'' (which has no grenades) is used to put your weapons away.

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: The Collectors. {{spoiler|As they are serving the Reapers}}, they fully realized that Shepard was an extreme threat to their plans {{spoiler|since s/he killed a Reaper}}. They attack the ''Normandy'' with overwhelming force at the first opportunity, and then hire the Shadow Broker to retrieve Shepard's body, just to make sure s/he's dead.

** They try to kill [[The Hero]] before the '''title card''', {{spoiler|and they succeed}}, '''then''' try to get the hero's body to make sure s/he's [[Deader Than Dead]] (this after they [[Stuff Blowing Up|blew up the hero's]] [[Cool Ship|space ship]] [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|with the hero still on it]]). Then it turns out they were [[Back from the Dead|justified]]. You just can't get any more genre savvy than that.

** Throughout that mission, Anaya herself is the queen of snark.

{{quote|'''[[By-The-Book Cop|Anaya]]:''' I have no interest in dying.}}

** Also if brought along to the Citadel when you deal with the volus accusing a quarian of theft. Considering you can't even see her face through that visor of hers, her death glares are indeed chilling to the bone.

* [[Death Is Dramatic]]: Subverted. During the final mission, anyone who dies will do so quickly, suddenly, and with no time for mourning.

* [[Death or Glory Attack]]: Biotic Charge. Either it's a spectacular close-range demolisher, or plants you right in the middle of an enemy horde.

* [[Degraded Boss]]: The first boss in the game is a YMIR Mech. You fight more of them in latter missions.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: Harbinger.

** Also, all your former teammates except for Garrus and Tali have been reduced to [[Quest Giver]]s or [[One-Scene Wonder|One Scene Wonders]].

* [[Derelict Graveyard]]: The massive field of destroyed ships that surrounds {{spoiler|the Collector Base}}. Doubles as an [[Asteroid Thicket]].

** The M-15 Vindicator is a burst-fire assault rifle. In cutscenes, it can go full auto despite logically, it shouldn't. [http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/4/4f/M15Vindicator.png Notice the Auto switch on the side of the gun]?{{Dead link}} Nice touch, Dev Team.

** {{spoiler|Ronald Taylor}}'s camp bed during Jacob's loyalty mission. [[Rape as Drama|It's a double]].

** In a more literal example, the Shadow Broker is a {{spoiler|yahg: a 15-foot-tall, hulking creature whose bulk, endurance and aggression outshadow even the krogan}}. When feeling threatened, he activates an energy barrier impervious to bullets and biotics alike, at which point Shepard is supposed to ''punch him in the face''.

** The Adept on anything higher than Veteran is usually reviled as useless. In reality, it's one of the best classes: if you can play it right, enemies die ''very'' fast.

* [[Disc One Final Dungeon]]: A straight case with the colony, and an odd case coming from the way the two disk nature of the game works. You begin with the first disk, swap to the second disk mid-way through, and pop the first disk back in for the end. In other words, the Final Dungeon is ''literally'' on the first disk.

* [[Disc One Nuke]]:

** If you're a Soldier with Adrenaline Rush, there's an unlisted 100 percent damage bonus. ''[[For Massive Damage|Massive]]'' [[For Massive Damage|damage]], oh yeah.

** The Eviscerator and Locust DLC weapons also count. Both can be acquired almost immediately and provide only slightly less damage than the Claymore and Tempest, respectively.

* [[Distress Call]]: Jacob's loyalty mission is triggered by one. Very frequently used to set up side quests.

* [[Dogged Nice Guy]]: [[Fan Nickname|Friend Zone Turian]] on Illium tries hard to convince his quarian ladyfriend that she needs a guy who'll "treat her right". Unfortunately for him, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_9ZjTltAHE&feature=related she doesn't seem to be getting the hint].

* [[Downer Beginning]]: About a minute into the game, the ''Normandy'' is crippled and has to be abandoned. [[Mauve Shirt|XO Pressly]] is killed in an explosion. ''And then you die''.

* [[Downer Ending]]: [[Multiple Endings|The worst ending]]. {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All|Shepard and all of his/her crew except for Joker and EDI are dead]]. [[Pyrrhic Victory|The Collectors have been wiped out]], [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|but the only person who can stop the Reapers is gone]]}}.

** The first "premium" (non-free) DLC is ''Kasumi - Stolen Memory'', featuring a notorious space thief who is mentioned by a news announcement on Illium for being suspected of stealing some prototype thing.

** The second non-free DLC is ''Overlord'', where Shepard is tasked with shutting down a rogue Cerberus VI. It received acclaim from those who reviewed it as being worth the money.

** During the second-to-last battle in Tali's loyalty mission, deploying a combat drone at just the right time in just the right place will immediately end the battle and trigger the cutscene where {{spoiler|Shepard and Tali find Rael's body}}.<ref>The reason this works is because the game treats your combat drones as squadmates, and any squadmate can trigger a cutscene.</ref> However, doing this will also glitch the cutscene so all of your squad has their equipped guns glued to their hands. Hugging Tali suddenly becomes a lot less heartwarming when Shepard has a freaking ''[[BFG|nuke gun]]'' strapped to their hand.

* [[Fandom Nod]]: All over the place in ''Lair of the Shadow Broker''.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: In ''spades''. All the sentient species in the galaxy seem to hold some degree of resentment for each other. The krogan are generally hostile to other species, and also aren't very well liked by everyone else, since their brute nature and the whole deal with the Krogan Rebellions has earned them a poor reputation. The quarians used to be respected, but their reputation in the galactic community suffered very badly because of the whole deal with the geth, which led to them losing their embassy on the Citadel and other species looking down on them and labeling them all as scum. Nobody likes the vorcha because of their aggression, reputation as troublemakers and vermin, and lesser intelligence. Humans are not too popular with a lot of people of other species, either, and in turn, a lot of humans seem prejudiced towards all aliens.

* [[Fire, Ice, Lightning]]:

* [[Foreboding Architecture]]: Oh look, there's a big, open room. With lots and lots of cover. ''Why aren't you behind some yet?!''

** You can tell with {{spoiler|almost}} 100% certainty when there is going to be a fight: there are waist high walls scattered around the place.

* [[Flipping the Table]]: A non-comedic example in ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'', when {{spoiler|the huge alien that is the Shadow Broker}} and towering over the biggest Krogans throws his entire metal desk at Shepard at the beginning of the fight.

** A minor one that's very easy one to miss, especially since it's optional dialogue, but it hints at how Archangel ended up cornered with his entire team dead. If Shepard presses Eclipse's leader for details about Archangel's past and identity, Jaroth says that even Archangel's team didn't know that. {{spoiler|How would Jaroth have any idea what Garrus' team did or didn't know? Simple: Sidonis told him}}.

*** On the same mission, something that hints at Archangel's true identity: {{spoiler|although he will shoot you if you hang around in the open too long, instantly taking down your shields, he will ''never'' take another shot at you until your shields regenerate}}. He even lampshades this later, if mention it.

** During ''Arrival'', a log made by Dr. Kenson after she'd {{spoiler|already been heavily indoctrinated has her coming to the ludicrous conclusion that they simply don't know what the Reapers want, and it's foolish to assume they mean doom for everyone since life goes on even though they've been here before. Come ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', she was closer to being right than anyone realized}}.

* [[Forgotten Fallen Friend]]: Averted hard. {{spoiler|The squadmate who died on Virmire}} will be referenced to a lot and can be a touchy subject for Shepard. Even ''Jenkins'', the [[Red Shirt]] who died 15 minutes into the first game, gets a mention. Furthermore, a [[Sidequest]] in the second game gives you the opportunity to toast to the memory of all your fallen crew members up to that point.

* [[Four-Element Ensemble]]: Four defense types, health, armor, shields and barriers. Weapons deal bonus damage to specific defenses in a mostly random fashion; most tech and biotic abilities are severely restricted, forcing you to bring along team members that make up for your weaknesses. Eventually, you inevitably end up with a weapons guy, an engineer and a biotic in your squad and ignore everyone else.

* [[Freeze Ray]]: The very appropriately named Avalanche [[BFG|heavy weapon]] and the Cryo tech power.

** One track was actually picked up from ''[[SSX]] 3'', but you can't really tell.

** Another example is the Afterlife Club on Omega. The main floor music was taken from ''[[Need for Speed]] 4''. Ironically, the VIP floor's track was made separately and intended to sound futuristic.

* [[Futuristic Superhighway]]: Illium features a three-dimensional web of air routes for its (many, many) [[Flying Car]]s. One part of ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'' has you hurtling through these as part of a car chase.

 

 

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[[Category:Mass Effect]]

[[Category:Split Trope Lists]]