Mass Effect 3 Speculation

[blindthrall]

Long post, bear with me.

Obviously the races you helped will come to your aid. My infiltrator is screwed.

I expect to see a level in the core of the Citadel, with a possibly living Prothean. I also expect to see a level on Earth, maybe even the last level.

Big Moral Choice- Go save either Thessia or Palaven, knowing the one you don't save will be wiped out. Given the Salarians distaste for open warfare, I think they'll take the Protheans on Ilos as an example and completely disappear. How great would it be if you completely screw up, and the Reapers kill all intelligent life in the galaxy before being destroyed...then at the end a bunch of salarians poke their heads out of the rubble. We probably don't know the location of their TRUE homeworld.

A round up at the end like Fallout summary of the settlements, except with species instead of towns.

Thane and sadly Mordin won't be alive. Samara/Mordin, Jack, and the DLC characters will be doing their own thing (maybe even be enemies). Liara will rejoin after taking out the Shadow Broker...which may tie in with Cerberus. More on that in a minute. Wrex will probably be leading a new Krogan Horde. As for Kaiden/Ashley...

Expect Indroctination to feature heavily. Why did the Alliance marine act like such a dick to you? Why did the Collectors take people all around them on Horizon, yet leave them? Kaiden/Ashley might be a boss fight. Also, why does the Council refuse to believe you? Could it have something to do with living inside a Reaper station? This is a good reason to go digging around inside the Citadel. How did that Collector vessel find the original Normandy in the first place? How do you stop indroctination? Maybe reverse brainwashing is the answer, using Thorian spores. Explains why Nazara wanted that thing dead so bad.

If you took the Paragon ending at the Collector base, you will be fighting Cerberus. And the Illusive Man may be the Shadow Broker. Miranda and Jacob probably have those killswitches Miranda wanted installed in you, so if you're paragon, don't expect them to hang around.

What kind of a party does that leave us, assuming no fuckups in the Collector base? Garrus, Tali, Grunt, Liara, definitely, with Legion as probable. This makes Garrus and Liara your default party if you completely screw up. I think new recruitable characters will be people you could have killed, like Maelon and Shiala, or maybe even Fist or some of your old gang if you're Earthborn. Knowing Bioware, any Batarian you save is also a possibility, as is the Urdnot scout. Kal'Reegar gets the empty Admiralty seat. The eleventh-hour party member? Joker gets a custom-made suit of power armor. Sorry, but I don't think Urz will get to be in the party. Make him a romance option if you love Varren that much. It would be kind of fun to take him and Conrad Verner out for the Shittiest Shore Party Ever achievement.

"Salvation through destruction." I took that to mean while all the other races in the galaxy were to be exterminated, humans would be forcibly evolved into a new Reaper. They were saving us from themselves, an honor probably reserved for whatever species kills one of them. "You killed their God. Your code is superior." Makes you wonder which Reaper was constructed from the race that took the Klendagon Shot. Are all the dead worlds, like the Arthenni colonies, the result of Reaping? There are at least half a dozen species spread over a few systems that show evidence of extinction from orbit. Are we to assume Reapers are responsible for every one?

I imagine the big moral choice at the end of the game will be whether to die heroically or become the primary consciousness-program of Pants Mk. II. The Reapers do represent a massive jump evolutionarily for those 'lucky' races that are selected. They are the only realistic way to get out of the Milky Way before it impacts with Andromeda, or to actually colonize the universe outside our galaxy. The universe is just too large for 6-foot tall monkeys who only live a hundred years. Is the exploration and expansion worth the loss of our humanity and individuality? Looking at Nazara this way, certain Sheperds are responsible for permanently eradicating no less than four unique species, and a possible five if you do everything you can to fuck over the Krogan. This all makes me wonder if in 50,000 years, an ancient Geth will be found that says, "Sovereign. A title bestowed upon it by organics. Its true name will always be Sheperd."

tl;dr Awesome doesn't even cover it.

 

[OrdinaryGuy]

I agree with most of your points, but I am pretty sure that the Illusive Man is not the Shadow Broker. Not only does the Illusive Man say that they are rivals, Liara's prequel to ME2 kind of throws a wrench in that theory. She recovers Shepard's body and sells it to Cerberus because the Shadow Broker screwed her over. Although that would be an awesome confrontation, especially when Liara finds out that you worked for him.

I'm personally looking forward to the outcome of the Quarians v. Geth dilemma. They introduced A TON of new characters and information in ME2. It's shaping up to be big. I'm hoping that there will be some really open-ended options with it.

Anyways, here's what we know. Admiral Koris and Admiral Gerrel will provide the options for peace or war, respectively. And Admiral Xen will likely be the primary villain for this subplot. Tali and Legion (if they're still alive) will play a key role in the mission. Kal'Reegar and Veetor will probably be around to help you out in some way as well. You'll likely have to choose between ultimately going to war with the Geth to take back the homeworld, using diplomacy to form a truce between the Geth and the Quarians (allowing them to get back their homeworld), or screwing it up and having the Quarians be A. wiped out in an unwise attempt to take back their planet or B. forcing them to colonize another world just to have a chance at repopulating their race.

Every option will have it's benefits, but I think having Tali or Legion around will make it much easier to get the better endings.

 

[Mr.Black]

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

 

[Awake-]

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

Wrex doesn't have to die.

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU POST BECAUSE YOU SAY MORDIN WILL DIE BOOHOOOO.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

Wrex isn't dead, he's uniting the Krogan clans. Also known as "kicking it old school". Maybe.

EDIT: Sod, ninja'd by...

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

Wrex doesn't have to die.

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU POST BECAUSE YOU SAY MORDIN WILL DIE BOOHOOOO.

He can't die, he's the very model of a Salarian scientist! When he started singing I had to yell for my flatmate to come and watch. So cool.

 

[Awake-]

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

Wrex isn't dead, he's uniting the Krogan clans. Also known as "kicking it old school". Maybe.

EDIT: Sod, ninja'd by...

Wrex is dead bro. It's Grunt you're thinking of.

Wrex doesn't have to die.

I REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU POST BECAUSE YOU SAY MORDIN WILL DIE BOOHOOOO.

He can't die, he's the very model of a Salarian scientist! When he started singing I had to yell for my flatmate to come and watch. So cool.

Plus he gives great sex advice!

"Do not..*cough*..ingest."

 

[JammasterJG]

i reckon the final boss should be you fighting an actual reaper (like harbinger or summin) while controlling the Normandy... that'd be awesome!


+ Mordin HAS to survive... he and legion are like the most awesome characters to come out of Mass Effect 2...

 

[Vrex360]

As for Kaiden/Ashley...

Expect Indroctination to feature heavily. Why did the Alliance marine act like such a dick to you? Why did the Collectors take people all around them on Horizon, yet leave them? Kaiden/Ashley might be a boss fight.

Their commander (or possibly even the person they love) appears to die in a horrific explosion and, two years later after having tried to move on with their lives suddenly guess who walks back into the picture now working for Cerberus. Which is a shady organisation with some seriously bad skeletons in the closet as well as the arch enemy of the Alliance, the army both you and they were at one point sworn to serve.
One doesn't need to be 'indoctrinated' to be confused and angry and (depending on if you romanced them or not) heartbroken at the coming situation. Rather it's what I would consider common sense, if they just leapt at you worshipping the ground you walked on, given the circumstances, that would be suspicious.

Besides, if you did romance them then they send an email afterwards apologising for their behavior and saying that while they can't come with you they clearly still care for you.

As for why the Collectors failed to abduct them? Simply put, you interrupted the process. They were halfway through the abduction process so it wasn't just Ashley/Kaidan who survived. Half the colony still survived. It's just a coincidence added by a writer who clearly had future plans for the story.

OT:
I still reckon it's going to be hard to get the entire team together again simply because there is a chance that any number of them could be dead. Liara is the only one who is guarenteed a spot right now.
Still I reckon maybe there will be some kind of initiation back into the Alliance or even Spectre status for Shepard provided you took the Paragon option at the end of ME3, I also get the feeling that if Wrex is the leader of Clan Urdnot then he'll be a valuable ally and that the Krogan race may even be saved.

I also imagine that if you romanced the alliance soldier and didn't go after anyone else in Mass Effect 2 (Like me, I stuck with Ashley) then there is probably going to be a subplot involving the relationship slowly mending from the tension between the two characters and once again confirm their feelings for each other. Which would be good if you ask me.
I just hope the new Normandy can cope with what will inevitably be the Ashley/Shepard make up sex in Mass Effect 3. The sexual energy that'll be released could blow a whole in the ships hull!
I kid really though it would still be nice.

I can't really imagine what the end result of a cheating Shepard is though, but I think it's probably going to be bad.

I reckon Cerberus is, one way or the other, going to wind up as an antagonist this time around. Either fueled by anger at Shepard's betrayal or using the Collector base to launch attacks against the Council either way I get the feeling they are going to be enemies. There might be some kind of final choice involving the reapers and humanity and I get the feeling that every character in the series still left alive is going to get screentime.

There is probably going to be a main story about finding some kind of weapon or something that can help against the Reapers as well as mobilising the entire galaxy to join forces for the greater good.

But of course these are all speculations and I'm curious as hell for the end result but all I know is I made the right decisions, romanced the right person and stayed true to it and have everyone I like still alive for the finally. Let's hope it's a good one.

 

[sibrenfetter]

Interesting speculations, but first of all who lives and dies depends on your actions. There is even an achievement for keeping the complete team alive (and wrex still lives depending on your actions in ME1).

I think the shadow broker is some sort of construct made by the reapers. As it is clear that noone ever gains a overwhelming advantage through the info bought. And the reapers did already admit they were steering our progression from the beginning. What better way then the Shadow Broker?

As Shepard has progressed to be an extreme bad ass by now and already decided about the fate of whole races, I wonder if the ME3 will actually be an RPG. Seeing how the scale is going upwards, it might end up being an RTS/RPG.

For Blindtrhall: The Collectors are the Protheans so you already played against them

 

[blindthrall]

Hey guys I love Mordin too, but he's 38. He's got a year more than Thane in him. Unless...

Liver failure. Second most common cause Salarian death, behind heart attack. Shame. Brain intact, probably good for additional century. Hmmm. Reaper Tech, distasteful, yet preferable to oblivion. Fitting to put my mind in something mindless. Any husk suitable, but prefer something...larger. Only wish I could do operation myself, ensure no mistakes.

I realize most of the colony didn't get abducted, but Lilith, the woman who gets an acid bath, is only a frozen a dozen meters from where Kaiden/Ashley is. If she got harvested, why not them? How did they get unfrozen in the first place? And I can understand the antagonism up to a point, but when they accuse Cerberus of working for the Reapers, that goes completely against logic. If you've got Garrus around, he calls them on this bullshit. Why would Cerberus, who even its detractors say only cares about humans, help Reapers abduct human colonies? It's more the circumstances you find them in than anything they say, but that one line bothered me.

 

[blindthrall]

Interesting speculations, but first of all who lives and dies depends on your actions. There is even an achievement for keeping the complete team alive (and wrex still lives depending on your actions in ME1).

I think the shadow broker is some sort of construct made by the reapers. As it is clear that noone ever gains a overwhelming advantage through the info bought. And the reapers did already admit they were steering our progression from the beginning. What better way then the Shadow Broker?

As Shepard has progressed to be an extreme bad ass by now and already decided about the fate of whole races, I wonder if the ME3 will actually be an RPG. Seeing how the scale is going upwards, it might end up being an RTS/RPG.

For Blindtrhall: The Collectors are the Protheans so you already played against them

That makes sense about the Shadow Broker, actually.

Collectors are modified Protheans. Actual Protheans are more tentaclely. You can see a huskified one in the codex entry, or the statues on Ilos. And I don't think you'll fight one so much as talk to it.

 

[LongAndShort]

What I'm really curious about is the murderer. You know, the one who sends you an email after you help Jack break out. That seriously perked my interest and i expect at least a full mission if not a character.

I reckon Jack, Miranda and Jacob will appear as party members in the next one, beside Tali and Garrus. I'd like to see Legion as well if possible.

I don't think the Illusive man becomes an enemy initially. I think what changes according to the 'moral choice' at the end of ME2 is whether he begrudgingly helps you or happily helps you. I do reckon you'll end up killing/sparing him at some stage after he does something or turns out to be someone who needs to found and removed.

 

[thats it exclamation]

haold on whats all this about a crash with andromeda?? where did this come out of

 

[Vrex360]

I realize most of the colony didn't get abducted, but Lilith, the woman who gets an acid bath, is only a frozen a dozen meters from where Kaiden/Ashley is. If she got harvested, why not them?

It's worth remembering, the Collectors can only take one at a time. Odds are they were probably in the process of picking off the Colonists before Shepard and his crew showed up after which they had to do battle with him. After all, Shepard kills a fuck tonne of Collectors and is clearly interuppting their harvesting as you stumble on plenty of colonists who are frozen.

How did they get unfrozen in the first place?

Tough resolution maybe? I mean Ashley's as tough as a rock made of nails so I'm pretty sure she could break free of the immobilisation. Likewise with Kaidan. Plus immediatley after the mission you receive an email from one of the other surviving colonists.
My guess is that it is a very short acting poison and that's why for the Collectors they have to move fast to take everyone and then put them in the pods. It is a delicate process that got interrupted by Shepard and before they could get their priority target they had to focus all their energy on taking out the threat. Hence giving Ashley/Kaidan time to free themselves.

And I can understand the antagonism up to a point, but when they accuse Cerberus of working for the Reapers, that goes completely against logic.

Indeed that is true, but if for the last two years the general idea is that Cerberus is the bad guy and that heavy involvement in the systems where the abductions were taking place from Cerberus one can be forgiven for letting their history get in the way of facts. In fact both Ashley and Kaidan clearly seem to take that comment back in the email they sent. It was more a moment of emotional confusion and disbelief so of course it was against logic.
But as I said before, after what they'd just been through... logical thought seems pretty difficult.
After having their commander (or love of their life) return from the dead AND working for an evil corporation having only just survived an alien invasion... expecting one to be able to think logically and straighten their mind over the course of a three minute conversation is kind of pushing it.

If you've got Garrus around, he calls them on this bullshit. Why would Cerberus, who even its detractors say only cares about humans, help Reapers abduct human colonies?

Conducting experimental weapons reasearch? Maybe to create some kind of biological reasearch and they need humans to act as cattle? Point is with a corporation like Cerberus there are literally endless possibilities as to why they would choose to abduct human colonies. They seem to adopt a sort of 'ends justify the means' sort of approach in these things.
My point is that there is literally no reason whatsoever to trust Cerberus. Not once did I ever think they were doing this out of the milk of human kindness, not once. The Collector base was clearly always the Illusive man's ultimate goal and until we know what he planned to do with it I'm going to say that the Reapers could well have had involvement in it.

At one point we hear Harbinger say 'The Reapers are your salvation' so I guess we'll find out what he meant by that later on.

It's more the circumstances you find them in than anything they say, but that one line bothered me.

I can sort of understand or speculate a to why you would think like that given the circumstance. But I really think that the paralysing thing was just so that you wouldn't bump into them during the Mission hence you only see them in the actual meeting hence giving it more emotion. I think it's probably just a plothole... these things do happen.
Think about it, if the Alliance soldier really was a Collector clone or indoctrinated and really wanted to stop Shepard's mission then surely it would just kill him/her on sight or as soon as he/she got close enough? Or at least join the mission so it could spy on the mission.

Besides, I as well as a lot of other people in the Mass Effect community would be very pissed off that we stayed the course with Ashley/Kaidan with only a three minute meeting, an email and Shepard staring at their picture to go by only for Bioware to then pull THAT kind of a plot twist.

By the way, didn't mean any offence and certainly don't hope I seemed rude in this post I was just expressing my opinion and I hope I didn't come across in any way as rude.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

I would point out that throughout the first two games Shepard is pretty much uniting an army of everyone the council hates: Krogans, Geth, Rachni, Quarians (sort of) etc. I expect more friction with the council than ever, if not all out war.

I'm just interested in the Reaper's real motive. I have a suspicion that they themselves are trying to prepare against an even greater threat. A bit corny, I know, but Harbinger keeps insisting that it's in your best interests to stop fighting. What motivation does an all powerful being having to lie?

 

[blindthrall]

I realize most of the colony didn't get abducted, but Lilith, the woman who gets an acid bath, is only a frozen a dozen meters from where Kaiden/Ashley is. If she got harvested, why not them?

It's worth remembering, the Collectors can only take one at a time. Odds are they were probably in the process of picking off the Colonists before Shepard and his crew showed up after which they had to do battle with him. After all, Shepard kills a fuck tonne of Collectors and is clearly interuppting their harvesting as you stumble on plenty of colonists who are frozen.

How did they get unfrozen in the first place?

Tough resolution maybe? I mean Ashley's as tough as a rock made of nails so I'm pretty sure she could break free of the immobilisation. Likewise with Kaidan. Plus immediatley after the mission you receive an email from one of the other surviving colonists.
My guess is that it is a very short acting poison and that's why for the Collectors they have to move fast to take everyone and then put them in the pods. It is a delicate process that got interrupted by Shepard and before they could get their priority target they had to focus all their energy on taking out the threat. Hence giving Ashley/Kaidan time to free themselves.

And I can understand the antagonism up to a point, but when they accuse Cerberus of working for the Reapers, that goes completely against logic.

Indeed that is true, but if for the last two years the general idea is that Cerberus is the bad guy and that heavy involvement in the systems where the abductions were taking place from Cerberus one can be forgiven for letting their history get in the way of facts. In fact both Ashley and Kaidan clearly seem to take that comment back in the email they sent. It was more a moment of emotional confusion and disbelief so of course it was against logic.
But as I said before, after what they'd just been through... logical thought seems pretty difficult.
After having their commander (or love of their life) return from the dead AND working for an evil corporation having only just survived an alien invasion... expecting one to be able to think logically and straighten their mind over the course of a three minute conversation is kind of pushing it.

If you've got Garrus around, he calls them on this bullshit. Why would Cerberus, who even its detractors say only cares about humans, help Reapers abduct human colonies?

Conducting experimental weapons reasearch? Maybe to create some kind of biological reasearch and they need humans to act as cattle? Point is with a corporation like Cerberus there are literally endless possibilities as to why they would choose to abduct human colonies. They seem to adopt a sort of 'ends justify the means' sort of approach in these things.
My point is that there is literally no reason whatsoever to trust Cerberus. Not once did I ever think they were doing this out of the milk of human kindness, not once. The Collector base was clearly always the Illusive man's ultimate goal and until we know what he planned to do with it I'm going to say that the Reapers could well have had involvement in it.

At one point we hear Harbinger say 'The Reapers are your salvation' so I guess we'll find out what he meant by that later on.

It's more the circumstances you find them in than anything they say, but that one line bothered me.

I can sort of understand or speculate a to why you would think like that given the circumstance. But I really think that the paralysing thing was just so that you wouldn't bump into them during the Mission hence you only see them in the actual meeting hence giving it more emotion. I think it's probably just a plothole... these things do happen.
Think about it, if the Alliance soldier really was a Collector clone or indoctrinated and really wanted to stop Shepard's mission then surely it would just kill him/her on sight or as soon as he/she got close enough? Or at least join the mission so it could spy on the mission.

Besides, I as well as a lot of other people in the Mass Effect community would be very pissed off that we stayed the course with Ashley/Kaidan with only a three minute meeting, an email and Shepard staring at their picture to go by only for Bioware to then pull THAT kind of a plot twist.

By the way, didn't mean any offence and certainly don't hope I seemed rude in this post I was just expressing my opinion and I hope I didn't come across in any way as rude.

I give the Collectors more credit than having to painstakingly load every colonist one by one before their crappy poison wears off. They certainly aren't in a hurry in the footage from Freedom's Progress. The marine unfreezing on their own makes sense, as Kaiden would know exactly what they did to him, and all Alliance marines have a modest degree of gengineering. But remember about indroctination: it's a slow process, and the best forms of it convince you your actions hurt the Reapers. Benezia from the first game started out as a mole trying to bring Saren down from the inside, and by the time she realized she'd been played it was too late.

 

[Undead Dragon King]

It's probably not going to happen in the story, but...

I'm going to build Tali that house on the homeworld!!!

 

[AllLagNoFrag]

Erm... is it stupid of me to say that my head hurts from all this speculation and possibilities of what will happen in MASS Effect 3? All I can do now is to wait an see what they decide to do. I can tell though, even if it doesnt go the way I expect it to, I have great faith in Bioware (being a dragon age player too etc) that they will not screw it up, though must it be a trilogy?

Its the fact that I can almost see Mass effect being a trilogy that I will expect alot of loose ends to be tied up and a climactic conclusion to the best space oriented RPG I have ever played.

Very excited and nervous about the Mass Effect movie though...

 

[Melon Hunter]

haold on whats all this about a crash with andromeda?? where did this come out of

The Andromeda Galaxy is accelerating towards our own due to gravitational attraction. The hole in the logic here is it will take millions of years for the collision to happen, and even when it does happen they will merge without a catastrophic explosion because the average density stars in a galaxy is so low.