Mass Effect 2 'Arrival' DLC

Samara said:
Why so close to Dragon Age II????? Come on Bioware.

They haven't announced a release date yet. They haven't even sent out an official press release. For all we know, this might not be released for another few months. :(
 
Samara said:
Why so close to Dragon Age II????? Come on Bioware.

This was a leak, not an official release. Hell, it's not even known if it's official. It was found be examining the inside of some files.

I wouldn't expect this before June. My prediction? Mid-July release.
 
I'm predicting a GDC announcement with a release in April, after Crysis 2 dies down a bit. Not that I expect a DLC to interfere with a major game release, but I don't see why EA would take the chance.
 
It's already bought,especially after the delicious LOTSB. :] 3 achievements does make sense,as both Overlord and LOTSB are also 3 extra achievements (so probably 560 or 800 points).

Just a sucker for anything ME right now,so I'm freaking starving here.I'm sure it's going to be much better than pinnacle station,even if it does sound like an arena type of mission so far (given the time it's taking to create it,it will be much more involved imo).
 
I really hope ME3 has higher res sky boxes.

I love how the Shadowbroker's ship looked, but the sky looked like low res barf that was mutating. Urk.

Probably not an issue on 720p, but at 1920 x1080 on pc, it's hella noticeable.
 
So the news is that the mass relays were built by an unknown race long before the Protheans,
and the doctor who made this discovery is now in some kind of significant danger in the DLC's scenario.

I'm already utterly intrigued by this DLC pack, and we still hardly know anything about it.
 
seat said:
So the news is that the mass relays were built by an unknown race long before the Protheans,
and the doctor who made this discovery is now in some kind of significant danger in the DLC's scenario.

I'm already utterly intrigued by this DLC pack, and we still hardly know anything about it.

Didn't we already have this happen, except it was with
liara and she thought the protheans made them?
 
almost done with my first play through of ME2, just beat ME1 for the first around Xmas. Love this universe and can't believe I didn't play them until now
 
seat said:
So the news is that the mass relays were built by an unknown race long before the Protheans,
and the doctor who made this discovery is now in some kind of significant danger in the DLC's scenario.

I'm already utterly intrigued by this DLC pack, and we still hardly know anything about it.

I bet the twist is that it's the Council that is out to cover up the discovery of the relays being Reaper technology, to try and keep Citadel Space 'under control' under the guise of safety and to not cause panic. The 'Ultimate Sacrifice' will be to get the news of the impending Reaper invasion out at the cost of the doctor's freedom/life.
 
New DLC?

stfu.jpg
 
From what I've heard/read, this DLC sounds like it won't have the action of Overlord or the story connections of LOTSB, but I'd basically buy anything new they put out for ME2 at this point. I love the game that much.
 
seat said:
So the news is that the mass relays were built by an unknown race long before the Protheans,
and the doctor who made this discovery is now in some kind of significant danger in the DLC's scenario.

I'm already utterly intrigued by this DLC pack, and we still hardly know anything about it.

I thought
the reapers
created the mass relays? Pretty sure we were told that in ME1.
 
tmacairjordan87 said:
I thought
the reapers
created the mass relays? Pretty sure we were told that in ME1.
The thing with those guys, is it's implied that the
reapers
don't even really know who made them.

I hope to god someone punches the council in, speaking of which.
 
Gvaz said:
The thing with those guys, is it's implied that the
reapers
don't even really know who made them.

Unless there's something in the novels that makes you think that (haven't read them), I don't think that's at all accurate. We've no reason to believe that they themselves don't know, and they would certainly have been around long enough ago to make them
since the derelict Reaper in ME2 was dated at 37 million years old, so that's the minimum age the Reapers could be.

I hope to god someone punches the council in, speaking of which.

Eh, until I get some kind of confirmation explicitly denying this as a possibility, I'm going to assume that
the council does know about the Reapers and knows they are still coming, but doesn't publicly acknowledge it and wouldn't let Shepard into the loop because s/he's Cerberus during ME2 and s/he's a bit of a blabbermouth about everything.

BELIEVE.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
Unless there's something in the novels that makes you think that (haven't read them), I don't think that's at all accurate. We've no reason to believe that they themselves don't know, and they would certainly have been around long enough ago to make them
since the derelict Reaper in ME2 was dated at 37 million years old, so that's the minimum age the Reapers could be.

The way I think of it is:

The Relays and Citadel are stated as indestructible by any known force in the universe. I believe that there was something about a star dying a knocking some mass relay off track, which is why they didn't find it.

So, if the reapers made the relays, wouldn't they make themselves out of the same material? If so, wouldn't they also be invulnerable? They've shown themselves to be otherwise.

Why was Sovereign so aside the question when asked about them?

Anyways it's highly plausible.
 
Gvaz said:
The way I think of it is:

The Relays and Citadel are stated as indestructible by any known force in the universe. I believe that there was something about a star dying a knocking some mass relay off track, which is why they didn't find it.

That isn't true. We aren't made aware of any attempts to destroy them, and we are certainly not told they are indestructible. The Mu relay in the first game was lost thanks to a supernova, but what that precisely means is rather unknown since we don't even know which star went supernova, whether it was the local star it was orbiting (in which case it would be a very impressive feat) or whether it was knocked away by interstellar debris 10 lightyears away (which is not a very impressive feat). I'm very hesitant to accept "the relays are indestructible" as a truth without something more solid to go on. Especially since Mass Effect Shields are stated to resist kinetic weapons such as slugs but not interact with radiation (i.e. the light from a giant star going supernova).

A relay surviving but being nudged off course by clouds of dust and the like from a supernova would be well within the capabilities of what we know in universe (Reapers are apparently rated to survive Dreadnought fire according to EDI circa ME2), but relays being made of metal that survives a direct supernova by magic is not. I would consider it far more parsimonious to assume the former than the latter given how vague the information we have to go on is.

The fact that the Keepers are needed to constantly maintain and rearrange parts of the Citadel seems to imply that the Citadel can be damaged at least superficially, but again, we are not aware of any attempts to say, crack it open down the middle. A station like that should be durable by virtue of how large it is.


So, if the reapers made the relays, wouldn't they make themselves out of the same material? If so, wouldn't they also be invulnerable? They've shown themselves to be otherwise.

I would say this is a fallacy, of the "if the black box can survive plane crashes then why don't they make the plane out of it?" variety. Relays are huge, much larger than Reapers, and have a considerably larger Eezo core (that huge glowy thing vs that tiny core we saw in ME2). This handily explains why they would be tougher than Reapers (again, assuming they are, we have no way to quantify this). They also aren't required to move, which means that being constructed out of big bulky things that slow your combat maneuvering down isn't important since it's not for combat.

This is even assuming that it is indestructible, which I certainly do not.


Why was Sovereign so aside the question when asked about them?

I don't really understand what you mean by this?


Anyways it's highly plausible.

If Bioware decides that it predates the Reapers then of course it will be the case. I just don't think they've given us any reasons to believe that is the case.
 
There are a couple of options I can see:

1. The Reapers were constructed by a very early (or possibly the first) starfaring race in the Milky Way. They destroyed their creators and built the relay network etc.

2. Said early race turned themselves into Reapers via the same process we see in ME2, and then as Reapers constructed the relay network.

3. Either one of the above origins for the Reapers, but the network was already here before them built by an unknown civilization.

We have evidence of a very old civilization since the Leviathan of Dis had to come from somewhere, but it's connection to all of the rest of the stuff is unknown. We won't find out until BWare decides to reveal it, if they do at all.
 
Meier said:
I bought the DLC during the sale around Christmas.. really need to get back and play it all.

I did the same thing and only played through it two weeks ago. Was a lot of fun and was worth the purchase. Shadow Broker was particularly good.

Might have to go and finish my Insanity playthrough so that when Arrival is released I can play through it on Insanity.
 
Day 1, been dying for more Mass Effect content.
Rearding the
stealth
trophy
Should be a walk in the park with an Infiltrator right?
 
EatChildren said:
"Historians and astronomers alike are abuzz tonight over a new paper published by Dr. Amanda Kenson of the University of Arcturus. Her team claims that by testing the dust trapped in the gravity wells around a mass relay, and comparing its composition to that of dust clouds in the same system, scientists can create a timeline of when the relay passed through the dust. Her conclusion? “Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years,” she writes, “The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans.” Dr. Aurana T’Meles of the University of Serrice met the information with skepticism: “While Dr. Kenson’s methods appear sound, the asari tried a similar procedure centuries ago and discounted it. What civilization could have spanned the galaxy for not thousands, but millions of years? If this were the case, we should have found mountains of evidence of their passing. Where is this species now?"

Notice any similarities? ;)
We have dismissed that claim.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
That isn't true. We aren't made aware of any attempts to destroy them, and we are certainly not told they are indestructible. The Mu relay in the first game was lost thanks to a supernova, but what that precisely means is rather unknown since we don't even know which star went supernova, whether it was the local star it was orbiting (in which case it would be a very impressive feat) or whether it was knocked away by interstellar debris 10 lightyears away (which is not a very impressive feat). I'm very hesitant to accept "the relays are indestructible" as a truth without something more solid to go on. Especially since Mass Effect Shields are stated to resist kinetic weapons such as slugs but not interact with radiation (i.e. the light from a giant star going supernova).

A relay surviving but being nudged off course by clouds of dust and the like from a supernova would be well within the capabilities of what we know in universe (Reapers are apparently rated to survive Dreadnought fire according to EDI circa ME2), but relays being made of metal that survives a direct supernova by magic is not. I would consider it far more parsimonious to assume the former than the latter given how vague the information we have to go on is.


These are all good points, but isn't the Citadel made out of the same material as the Relays? I'm pretty certain there's a codex entry that says something about the citadel being at least virtually indestructible when the wings close.

But I digress, there isn't enough evidence in the game right now, so this is just assuming a lot of things :P
 
Man I can't wait. The Shadow Broker DLC was pure awesome. I hope it's not just a small DLC and more like the SB. I really can't wait for Mass Effect 3.
 
This twist is that the only way to save the galaxy involves letting the Reapers destroy all sentient life, so Shepard sacrifices everyone and everything for the sake of future species. Sentient life eventually evolves, space travel is discovered. However, resources are running thin. The Citadel races create time travel to travel back in time to harvest resources. However, biological life can't sustain the time travel, so they invent a race of machines to do the harvesting...


inglip.jpg

THE REAPERS
 
shinobi602 said:
Because Dragon Age is an awesome franchise, in my opinion.

I'm one of the few who thinks DA2 looks way better than the first one. Graphically it's not the hottest shit ever to put it lightly but it looks like it plays smoothly and has better gameplay than the original. Also digging the characters a bit more as well.

Any word yet on when the patch is going back up? I kept starting ME2 yesterday throughout the day hoping for it, but nada.
 
brandonh83 said:
I'm one of the few who thinks DA2 looks way better than the first one. Graphically it's not the hottest shit ever to put it lightly but it looks like it plays smoothly and has better gameplay than the original. Also digging the characters a bit more as well.

Any word yet on when the patch is going back up? I kept starting ME2 yesterday throughout the day hoping for it, but nada.

But is it the new shit?
 
It looks like more Arrival info was found in the files for Alternate Appearance Pack #2 on PC. Destructoid have all the details in their spoilerific glory here.

I've read it, and if people want a small summary of what the Arrival DLC might contain without too many blatant spoilers, here you go:
if correct, it looks like Arrival will take place in Batarian space, in the Bahak system in the Viper Nebula, with descriptions for five Batarian planets. The Bahak system isn't in ME2 by default, but has been mentioned in the Cerberus Daily News in these two reports;

"The galaxy is on high alert as starships belonging to the Earth Systems Alliance and Batarian Hegemony refuse to back down from a confrontation in the Skyllian Verge. The encounter began when a frigate from the batarian colony of Aratoht discovered an Alliance cruiser, the SSV Budapest, on patrol in the Bahak system. The Alliance claims the Budapest was chasing a pirate fleet that has been harassing human colonies in the Skyllian Verge, and that it was fully within its rights to travel through Bahak's space. The Batarian Hegemony has demanded the Alliance's immediate withdrawal from their colony's system. Three batarian cruisers stationed on Aratoht are now on their way to join the confrontation."

and

"The Alliance cruiser that sparked a standoff between the Earth Systems Alliance and Batarian Hegemony has retreated from the Bahak system. Hegemony officials claim to have found no trace of the pirate fleet the Alliance was allegedly pursuing when the SSV Budapest flew into the system. The Alliance maintains it was chasing pirates raiding human merchant vessels when it crossed into batarian space, but refuses to release any of its ships' logs. Despite this, Citadel observers say the Alliance's withdrawal has done enough to ease tensions. "The Hegemony knows the Alliance is attempting to save face," said one anonymous Citadel diplomat. "At this juncture, the humans' retreat from Aratoht [in the Bahak system] has gone from a diplomatic crisis to an embarrassment they want swept under the rug."

There's some dialogue options as well, and it appears Shepard will be given two distress signals and have to chose which one to respond to. There's also mention of "New Mask Piece, New Torso Piece, New Shoulder Piece, New Arm Piece, New Leg Piece, New Material Type", so we might see new armor.
 
Oh awesome, I just wrapped up the PS3 version, easily one of my favourite games in the past few years, if the quality is up there with lair of the shadow broker then count me in, here’s hoping for tons more lore and goodies at the end of it too. Do we know if the DLC specific content is going to affect ME3?
 
Forgive my off-topic-ness BUT

My save file was corrupted and I lost my 40+ hours of work. Does anyone know if it's possible to download someone else's PS3 save file? Thanks, I can't find this answer anywhere.
 
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