So, how do you think we are going to beat the reapers at the end of mass effect 3?

[HalfTangible]

An interesting viewpoint i heard brought up once is that Sovereign (the first reaper) may not be a good baseline for the reapers as a whole.

Consider: The Reapers, massive as they are, are still thinking beings, with ideas, goals, plans, etc. And part of that plan is to leave behind one of their men - just one - to activate a signal to bring them all in. Like a scout.

Except this 'scout' (Sovereign calls himself a vanguard, which advances ahead of the main force) has to be able to fix anything that may go wrong. And if you're going to send one man into the middle of enemy territory, you're not going to send your average, everyday soldier: you're going to send your absolute best. The kind where 'you and what army' is no longer a joke. The friggen BATMAN/SUPERMAN BASTARD CHILD of the reapers.

tl;dr (what does that even mean?) Sovereign was probably the strongest reaper in the universe, and the other reapers, while tough, can still be taken down without quite as much loss.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I have a suspicion that whatever method Shepard uses, it will have truly massive consequences. Like waiting until every Reaper is on Earth, then hurling it into the sun or something.

 

[hermes]

It will involve a phlebotinum weapon. Something that includes mass effect and element zero because everything in ME involves those (they are the equivalent to magic or midiclorians in that universe), which will reverse their polarity and kill them all... Massive amounts of conservation of ninjutsu might be required.
The "unite all the races together" plot is most likely because we need to distract the reapers while the Normandy ventures deep into enemy territory in order to activate the magic device. If this sounds too familiar to The Lord of the Rings, its not mere coincidence.

 

[Lupine Volt]

I'm going to assume tactics. The reapers have probably grown complacent in that department, considering the cycle of extinction that's been going on. I'm assuming their own weapons will be turned on them, either from the salvage of Sovereign and the derelict reaper, or perhaps from, say, the Flotilla parks itself between two reapers, they both fire, and the Flotilla dodges, making both explode gloriously.

That, or exploit the reapers little known weakness to peanut butter.

 

[captain_dalan]

By something that is introduced in this game. Suddenly there's still a Prothean tech somewhere that can be retrofitted to work with theirs that will easily destroy the Reapers. Or they'll find a controle unit, destroy that.
Virus is good too.

Personally, I want something like Shepard liberating the Protheans from Reaper control and going down with the Normandy in the last stand which does destroy the Reapers. Either way, win or lose, Shepard has to die in my opinion.

Well in my perfect world, this should be done (or being able to be done)in several different ways, one/or several of which would result in Shepard ending dead and at least one in which the Reapers would win. Can we expect such a multiple ending game in 2012? Probably not, but if they do make one, i will celebrate the day of its release like a new national/gamer holiday

As to how we could win, i also hope at least 3-4 ways of doing it, with different results in benefits-damages department, some of which would depend on the choices we made in the first 2 games

 

[GameChanger]

I think it's kinda obvious. Shepard blew up a Mass Relay in Arrival, and it destroyed an entire solar system. Won't that be kind of a problem for the Reapers?

I mean, I'm interested to see how they will finish the saga, but I'm actually more interested to see if there's any motive why the reapers are doing this.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

Well considering a combined fleet was only able to defeat ONE reaper and even then suffered major casualties; the only way to defeat hundreds of Reapers would be to use some other means of attack.

My guess is that we'll either use Black Holes, Stars, or Mass Relays as impromptu weapons/traps.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Since it would be virtually impossible to destroy all the Reapers without a massive Plot Gun, I'd say the best solution would be to convince their leader (if they have one) to abandon their cause or use a virus like the one the heretic Geth made.

Shutting down all the mass relays might work too. Heavy risk, but the priiiize...

 

[GamerKT]

Huge fucking guns.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

They will fight each other into a stand still and talk. I think they will find out stuff about the reapers in the game, their history and the reason they do what they do. An will use that knowledge against them to stop them fighting and killing. There is a chance to add real depth to the reapers, the same as the extra stuff they added to the geth in ME2.

 

[Terminal Blue]

If they're machines, that should fry them pretty good. Might not kill them since we know they're also organic, but it should as least slow them down.

You see the lightning which plays over sovereign when it moves..

I'm willing to bet that a machine which just allows electromagnetic radiation to disperse into its chassis like that is pretty confident that all its internal systems are protected.

OT: I'm taking a long guess that it will have something to do with the fact that Reapers are composed of the 'essence' and presumably the collective racial memory of the species they devour. It will probably have something to do with all the 'souls' trapped inside redeeming themselves by self-destructing, or something mcguffiny like that.

It won't just be a big fight in orbit because then Commander space-Jesus can't have a central role.

alternatively you could just do it like a man ship to giant squid because i think everybody gives them why to much credit as the SR1 deliverd the killing blow to sovereign and he was the advanced guard suggesting that he would be of higher quality than the rank and file reaper as their whole plan relied on him

Don't forget that before Sovereign's kinetic barriers went down due to plot McGuffinage it was just sitting there letting the entire alliance fleet fire everything they had at it for several minutes with absolutely no effect, while it destroyed ships in one hit with the Thanix cannons mounted on its tentacles.

It also drove straight through a Turian frigate without breaking a sweat.

Okay, the Thanix cannons have been reverse engineered so maybe that would make a difference. But still, Issac Newton is the deadliest ************ in space and Sovereign just ignored him for several minutes. I think that makes Sovereign the deadliest ************ in space, personally.

 

[Royta]

By something that is introduced in this game. Suddenly there's still a Prothean tech somewhere that can be retrofitted to work with theirs that will easily destroy the Reapers. Or they'll find a controle unit, destroy that.
Virus is good too.

Personally, I want something like Shepard liberating the Protheans from Reaper control and going down with the Normandy in the last stand which does destroy the Reapers. Either way, win or lose, Shepard has to die in my opinion.

Well in my perfect world, this should be done (or being able to be done)in several different ways, one/or several of which would result in Shepard ending dead and at least one in which the Reapers would win. Can we expect such a multiple ending game in 2012? Probably not, but if they do make one, i will celebrate the day of its release like a new national/gamer holiday

As to how we could win, i also hope at least 3-4 ways of doing it, with different results in benefits-damages department, some of which would depend on the choices we made in the first 2 games

Imo the biggest downside with this plot, is that they made the Reapers too powerfull. There's no 'realistic' way they can be beaten. They outnumber and outpower the universe. Especially considering the amount of Reapers that are coming.
So there has to be this weird Deus Ex Machina that gives them a chance of survival. Preferably the 'bad' ending is based on your choices in the previous 2 games and not on Loyalty missions and things of the like.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

I know Cupcake is more interested in threadshitting and insulting Bioware fans, but they already introduced firepower capable of defeating the Reapers:

Yes, I wrote a whole page about how the ending of mass effect 3 will happen and asked others for theories about how it will end but it's all just a secret plot to insult bioware fans because I get off to doing that.

Grow up.

 

[TKIR]

The Reapers main weapon was control over the Relay System. Without that the Galaxy can mass fleets against the reapers and even if they get destroyed the combined production of the Galaxy can just pump out more. In a war of Attrition the Reapers can't win.

 

[Akarezik]

I have a suspicion that whatever method Shepard uses, it will have truly massive consequences. Like waiting until every Reaper is on Earth, then hurling it into the sun or something.

I actually have a similar theory I posted in another thread, funny how that works:

Spoiler: Crazy Speculation

Well, you know how they said that the point of ME3 was to retake Earth, right? Well, what if, after all the research/army building, you finally push the occupying Reapers off Earth, only to have it be a trap to finish off Shepard? The majority of the Reapers, simply waiting for Shepard to make his move, drop into the system, and start heading to Earth. Then, in a moment of clarity, someone like EDI (assuming she's still around), suggests blowing up the sun with whatever it was that you discovered caused Haestrom's star to start aging, taking out the bulk of the Reapers that invaded. However, it would be at the cost of the human home system, and anyone still not out of there by the time it goes. I think it would make a nice end to the climax, with a minimum of Deus Ex Machina, and maybe a sequence where you have to outrun the supernova destroying the system behind you as you race towards the relay.

Like I said, mostly speculation, but I'm building on the things they have hinted at across ME1 and ME2.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I have a suspicion that whatever method Shepard uses, it will have truly massive consequences. Like waiting until every Reaper is on Earth, then hurling it into the sun or something.

I actually have a similar theory I posted in another thread, funny how that works:

Spoiler: Crazy Speculation

Well, you know how they said that the point of ME3 was to retake Earth, right? Well, what if, after all the research/army building, you finally push the occupying Reapers off Earth, only to have it be a trap to finish off Shepard? The majority of the Reapers, simply waiting for Shepard to make his move, drop into the system, and start heading to Earth. Then, in a moment of clarity, someone like EDI (assuming she's still around), suggests blowing up the sun with whatever it was that you discovered caused Haestrom's star to start aging, taking out the bulk of the Reapers that invaded. However, it would be at the cost of the human home system, and anyone still not out of there by the time it goes. I think it would make a nice end to the climax, with a minimum of Deus Ex Machina, and maybe a sequence where you have to outrun the supernova destroying the system behind you as you race towards the relay.

Like I said, mostly speculation, but I'm building on the things they have hinted at across ME1 and ME2.

That... actually sounds plausible. I can't have been the only one seeing all the dark energy references, and even Reapers wouldn't survive a supernova. Though the supernova does travel at about 40% of lightspeed, so the ship is going to have to be going bloody fast.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Its going to be like doctor who, except with guns.

They fight their way to get to some computer or, like a power junction or something, probably inside of a reaper or maybe just some heavily guarded installation. Spout some technobabble, and press a few buttons, and the reapers explode.

 

[Akarezik]

I have a suspicion that whatever method Shepard uses, it will have truly massive consequences. Like waiting until every Reaper is on Earth, then hurling it into the sun or something.

I actually have a similar theory I posted in another thread, funny how that works:

Spoiler: Crazy Speculation

Well, you know how they said that the point of ME3 was to retake Earth, right? Well, what if, after all the research/army building, you finally push the occupying Reapers off Earth, only to have it be a trap to finish off Shepard? The majority of the Reapers, simply waiting for Shepard to make his move, drop into the system, and start heading to Earth. Then, in a moment of clarity, someone like EDI (assuming she's still around), suggests blowing up the sun with whatever it was that you discovered caused Haestrom's star to start aging, taking out the bulk of the Reapers that invaded. However, it would be at the cost of the human home system, and anyone still not out of there by the time it goes. I think it would make a nice end to the climax, with a minimum of Deus Ex Machina, and maybe a sequence where you have to outrun the supernova destroying the system behind you as you race towards the relay.

Like I said, mostly speculation, but I'm building on the things they have hinted at across ME1 and ME2.

That... actually sounds plausible. I can't have been the only one seeing all the dark energy references, and even Reapers wouldn't survive a supernova. Though the supernova does travel at about 40% of lightspeed, so the ship is going to have to be going bloody fast.

All the more reason such an ending would make for a thrilling climax. Zooming past planets, and dodging out of the way of the occasional Reaper, with the Charon Relay coming into view near the end, knowing that you've done something irreversible... Well, it would be better than something like that lame-ass boss fight at the end of ME2 as an ending.

 

[Bobbity]

Honestly? I think that Bioware's going to cop out.

I wrote two pages on how I thought that ME3 would turn out over on the Bioware forums sometime last year, but essentially this:

[HEADING=2]Do you remember the sudden fascination with dark energy that everyone seemed to spontaneously develop during ME2? Yeah. That.[/HEADING]

The problem is that Bioware's essentially dug themselves into a hole by creating this invincible armada, and now the only solution is Deus Ex Machinima. They placed the references to and studies of Dark energy into ME2 so that it wouldn't come totally out of nowhere in ME3, but that's about as much credit as I'll give them.