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[Wiggum2007]

That's not how they do it though. The most efficient direction for production is to have the 'default' playthrough a renegade playthrough were everyone dies and everything goes to shit. ME2 was like that. It makes it easier to structure a 'complete' game without worrying that important content wont be seen by someone importing a file.

The main concern about returning squadmates is that its inefficient development to dedicate a significant amount of time to content only a certain percentage of players will see. In the case of squadmates, a lot of work goes into them. All that dialogue, recording, missions, modelling, balance, etc. Nobody is going to put in that kind of work for something that may never be experienced.

A lot of us dont expect any of the squaddies from ME2 to be squadmates in ME3 for this reason. Just look at ME2. The three squadmates that could die in ME1 had far less screen time in ME2 than the three who were guarentied to survive.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; BioWare dug themselves a hole by making the entire roster killable in the ME2 finale.

Whatever they do I hope they stick to a smaller squad a la ME1. I was excited by how many squad members we were getting when ME2 previews were coming out, but there ended up being just too many members for a game of that length. I think there were a few squad members especially towards the end that I didn't use a single time outside their recruitment/loyalty missions.

 

[Patryn]

That's not how they do it though. The most efficient direction for production is to have the 'default' playthrough a renegade playthrough were everyone dies and everything goes to shit. ME2 was like that. It makes it easier to structure a 'complete' game without worrying that important content wont be seen by someone importing a file.

The main concern about returning squadmates is that its inefficient development to dedicate a significant amount of time to content only a certain percentage of players will see. In the case of squadmates, a lot of work goes into them. All that dialogue, recording, missions, modelling, balance, etc. Nobody is going to put in that kind of work for something that may never be experienced.

A lot of us dont expect any of the squaddies from ME2 to be squadmates in ME3 for this reason. Just look at ME2. The three squadmates that could die in ME1 had far less screen time in ME2 than the three who were guarentied to survive.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; BioWare dug themselves a hole by making the entire roster killable in the ME2 finale.

The other thing is that because they could all be dead, no major plot moment can be contingent on their being alive, lest it break the game of anybody who had them dead.

So it's possible they could be squad members, but they'd probably get very little to do, and any important plot roles would simply be like in Chrono Cross: Simply the same line tweaked with that character's tone of voice. Think something like Zaeed or Kasumi, probably. The whole thing would make it feel very shallow.

ME1 worked a lot different though. Wrex lived or died based on a paragon(IIRC) check, and either Kaiden or Ashley HAD to die. It split it a lot more than the ME2 choices did since it basically amounted to:

--If female shep chooses ashley to live
--If female shep chooses kaiden to live
--Romance(y/n)
--If male shep chooses kaiden to live
--If male shep chooses ashley to live
--Romance(y/n)

No matter what, this split was made with no safe remedy. In 2 nobody HAS to die, which I feel is the crucial difference.

It's going to be a lot of work figuring out what to do, but I atleast have faith that Bioware realized this when they made ME2 completely focused on the squad to not retcon them out.

Of course, if I'm wrong I'll eat my words in a rage and I'd imagine whatever cop out they pull would drop the entire ME series quite a few pegs in my eyes.

It wasn't just a Paragon check. It was a check of either Paragon or Renegade (having either high enough would suffice) or if you had done his sidequest (no speech check needed).

And by your logic, ME2 is even more messed up, because of all the romance options available. For Miranda, Jack, Thane, Jacob, Garrus, and Tali there are four possible options for each: Cross whether they are alive or dead with whether you romanced them or not. With Jack especially, there's an additional level on whether you just had sex with her or actually romanced her.

Then there's Grunt and Legion: Did you bother to activate them? They're completely optional, adding entirely new variables.

Plus there's the question of whether you did their loyalty missions. Should that affect their behavior in ME3?

Maybe I'm a pessimist, but it seems far easier to simply shelve them and give them a small cameo (I doubt any of them would be reduced to an e-mail).

 

[K.Jack]

Yep, Bioware painted themselves into a corner.

Default option has to be that everyone died, or everyone survived. It's a mess.

I agree with Wiggum2007 that the armour in ME1 was more fitting for the female version of Shepard. Not that the ME2 version was bad or anything, it just wasn't as diverse, nor as sleek as the ones in ME1. The Colossus is an example of sublime design and texture. That said, the ME2 armour might have been better if Bioware actually had included high-resolution textures in the PC version, as in ME1.

Empirical evidence (scaled from 1920x1080 to 1280x720):

Damn I'd totally forgotten, how sleek and beautiful the Colossus armor was on FemShep.

My opinion is now, that the decision made on ME2 armor was freaking terrible.

Here's to hoping that they bring it back for the sequel.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

The main concern about returning squadmates is that its inefficient development to dedicate a significant amount of time to content only a certain percentage of players will see. In the case of squadmates, a lot of work goes into them. All that dialogue, recording, missions, modelling, balance, etc. Nobody is going to put in that kind of work for something that may never be experienced.

I disagree with you on that. In ME2 all the loyalty missions are completely optional - you can finish the game without even touching them. And yet they are still in the game, full of cut-scenes, voice acting, new locations etc. If you're not bother with doing Tali's, Mordin's and Grunt's side quests you'll never even gonna see places like Tuchanka or Flotilla.

The other thing is that because they could all be dead, no major plot moment can be contingent on their being alive, lest it break the game of anybody who had them dead.

So it's possible they could be squad members, but they'd probably get very little to do, and any important plot roles would simply be like in Chrono Cross: Simply the same line tweaked with that character's tone of voice. Think something like Zaeed or Kasumi, probably. The whole thing would make it feel very shallow.

It's not like your squadmates do anything important outside of their missions; their presence in other missions is completely optional. So most of the time they are just sitting on the Normandy, ready to be talked to, and that's it.

I don't think it would be impossible for BioWare to bring at least few members from ME2 as an addition to the new cast. If they are dead, they will simply not be there - the player will just miss some dialogues/romance options and a mission or two that were designed around said character.

 

[Van Owen]

My opinion is now, that the decision made on ME2 armor was freaking terrible.

It wasn't terrible, it just needs A LOT more options. I like the customization better than everyone one having essentially the same looking Sheppard because there is a one piece armor that is clearly the best.

 

[Patryn]

It's not like your squadmates do anything important outside of their missions; their presence in other missions is completely optional. So most of the time they are just sitting on the Normandy, ready to be talked to, and that's it.

I don't think it would be impossible for BioWare to bring at least few members from ME2 as an addition to the new cast. If they are dead, they will simply not be there - the player will just miss some dialogues/romance options and a mission or two that were designed around said character.

But I'd rather that Bioware ditch the shallow squadmates in ME2 and give us something closer to the robust companions in Dragon Age.

And, yes, I'm calling the squadmates in ME2 shallow. They may be well designed, with deep backstories, but none of that matters because unless you're on one of their active missions, they're just a set of stats. Hence why Miranda is one of the most popular squad members to bring along (her skills arguably make her the best squadmate to bring) yet is also one of the most despised characters in the game.

Compare with Dragon Age, where the characters were definitely more shallow in terms of design and backstory, yet felt so much more rich because of all the banter they had amongst themselves and with you.

Nerfing companions for the sake of bringing your squad over seems like a piss-poor trade-off.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

That playthrough was fun.:lol

My Renegade Shep slept with Miranda, saved the galaxy, dumped Miranda, slept with Jack, dumped Jack, and then slept with Tali.

 

[subversus]

That playthrough was fun.:lol

My Renegade Shep slept with Miranda, saved the galaxy, dumped Miranda, slept with Jack, dumped Jack, and then slept with Tali.

Shit I didn't know that you can dump somebody.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Shit I didn't know that you can dump somebody.

I thought Jack was gonna blow a gasket.

edit: I don't know how it works, but I had all three of them in love with me before the end battle.

After that all it took was dumping Miranda and continuing the relationship with Jack and so on.

 

[subversus]

I thought Jack was gonna blow a gasket.

I guess she said something in line with "whatever"? :lol

 

[Thunder Monkey]

I guess she said something in line with "whatever"? :lol

More like "You jerk me around and treat me like a piece of meat?! Whatever... JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

edit: Miranda took the break up really well.

 

[Kurtofan]

But I'd rather that Bioware ditch the shallow squadmates in ME2 and give us something closer to the robust companions in Dragon Age.

And, yes, I'm calling the squadmates in ME2 shallow. They may be well designed, with deep backstories, but none of that matters because unless you're on one of their active missions, they're just a set of stats. Hence why Miranda is one of the most popular squad members to bring along (her skills arguably make her the best squadmate to bring) yet is also one of the most despised characters in the game.

Compare with Dragon Age, where the characters were definitely more shallow in terms of design and backstory, yet felt so much more rich because of all the banter they had amongst themselves and with you.

Nerfing companions for the sake of bringing your squad over seems like a piss-poor trade-off.

Companions comment every now and then.
Some missions have more comments than other, but with so many characters it's still pretty good.

 

[Coxswain]

Guys, that's just my assumption. Since Kaiden/Ashley are dead, all ME2 squad mates could end up dead and Liara is busy

Spoiler

helping us with intel

, there aren't a lot of options available.

According to Bioware's own statistics, something like 84% of squad members in ME2 survived. That's an average of ten surviving ME2 characters per player, which is enough that they could easily (at least in theory) carry over the entire cast and not worry about people being locked out of things. You don't even have to worry all that much about the worst-case scenario; to have a save to import to ME3 at all, at least one ME2 character besides Shepard needs to survive, either Ashley or Kaidan is guaranteed to be alive, and so is Liara; if you add just one or two ME3-specific characters on top of that, that's definitely enough of a core group to build the game around, even if the Normandy would feel a little understaffed.
It's unlikely that ME3 will be as focused on the cast of characters themselves as ME2 was, so I doubt that the loss of every character will correlate to a loss of anything as significant as a recruitment/loyalty mission. For instance, imagine ME1 if, say, Tali and Garrus had been entirely removed. You'd have to make a minor alteration to the beginning of the game so you got evidence on Saren from some other source, and you'd miss out on one sidequest. Other than that, nothing about the core game would change.

Remember also that ME3 is the last in the trilogy. In ME2 they were doubly constrained; not only did they have to worry about building the game in such a way that ME2 didn't feel incomplete just because you played ME1 the 'wrong' way, but they also had to be mindful of creating too much complexity to carry forward into ME3. If you take decisions from ME1, and bring them into ME2 in such a way that the player is making further branched decisions based on the results of the first game, you get an exponential increase in the number of distinct cases that need to be considered when making ME3.


I don't think all the characters will return, but I really think that those decisions will be motivated more by whether they can handle the asset creation than because they need to worry about people not having access to enough characters to play the game. The question isn't "Who is absolutely guaranteed to have survived up until this point?" but "Can we do justice to letting all the ME2 characters return, while also having the ME1 characters return, and making room for a couple of new ME3 characters?"
I mean I don't want to come off as naively optimistic here, but the constraints on what can be included and what can carry over from ME2 to ME3 are very relaxed compared to the constraints from ME1 to ME2. I wouldn't expect miracles, but I don't think it's necessary to assume the 'rules' on what made it into ME2 are going to dictate how ME3 turns out.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

And, yes, I'm calling the squadmates in ME2 shallow. They may be well designed, with deep backstories, but none of that matters because unless you're on one of their active missions, they're just a set of stats. Hence why Miranda is one of the most popular squad members to bring along (her skills arguably make her the best squadmate to bring) yet is also one of the most despised characters in the game.

I agree with you on that. I hate that BioWare removed party banters (damn you elevator haters >:|) and team discussions after each main mission. There was so much less interaction between your party members in ME2 when compared to ME1 :/.

 

[Papercuts]

Yeah, there are a lot of variables to consider, I just think that bioware giving 2 the squad focus will make them atleast deal with the extra work to not toss them out for 3. I have no hope in Kaiden/Ashley due to the guaranteed split, and the DLC characters in 2 are likely not going to be fully fleshed if they even return at all, but eh...the statistics above is good to heard though, and at the very least:

Yep, Bioware painted themselves into a corner.

Default option has to be that everyone died, or everyone survived. It's a mess.

EVERYONE can't be dead, because then shepherd died, and they already said you can't transfer a save like that.

 

[Zen]

I agree with you on that. I hate that BioWare removed party banters (damn you elevator haters >:|) and team discussions after each main mission. There was so much less interaction between your party members in ME2 when compared to ME1 :/.

Absolutely, and did it bug anyone else that you couldn't get to know your squad without the tone turning obviously flirtatous and leading? ME1 handled the line between that sort of thing so much better, I had to stop talking to some of my party members to maintain cohesion... in an RPG.

I guess part of it was that your romantic options were limited the less characters in ME1. In ME2 like half the cast will awkwardly segway into wanting to get it on with you just because you asked them how their day went for the third time ever. :lol

 

[Gary Whitta]

So I'm gonna jump into the DLC, is it worth getting everything? IIRC there was a free pack with some vehicle-based missions, then two pay packs, one involving some kind of female space ninja and then shadow broker? All worth doing?

Also I left a message for Ray Muzyka on Facebook about the ME2/ME3 carryover issue, let's see if he responds

 

[Kurtofan]

I agree with you on that. I hate that BioWare removed party banters (damn you elevator haters >:|) and team discussions after each main mission. There were so much less interaction between your party members in ME2 when compared to ME1 :/.

Team discussions always involved the same members: Liara, Ashley and Kaidan.
It's still present in ME2 with Jacob, Miranda, Mordin, Thane, Jack, Tali and Legion.
Party banters are scarce because you need the right combo, but they're still here.
It's not Dragon Age but it's not inferior to Mass Effect 1.

 

[Red]

Yep, Bioware painted themselves into a corner.

Default option has to be that everyone died, or everyone survived. It's a mess.

What if there was an interactive comic, ME2 PS3-style, for players who didn't import a save? Might help to explain the story and provide a more personalized experience.

Also gets around having default choices already planned out.

 

[Zen]

Team discussions always involved the same members: Liara, Ashley and Kaidan.

Really? i remember a great deal of party banter in the game that included people like Wrex, and Tali.

 

[Kurtofan]

Really? i remember a great deal of party banter in the game that included people like Wrex, and Tali.

In the elevators or during important events perhaps, he was talking on the ship.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

So I'm gonna jump into the DLC, is it worth getting everything? IIRC there was a free pack with some vehicle-based missions, then two pay packs, one involving some kind of female space ninja and then shadow broker? All worth doing?

Also I left a message for Ray Muzyka on Facebook about the ME2/ME3 carryover issue, let's see if he responds

Space Ninja and Shadow Broker are good. Overlord is also pretty good.

I'd avoid the Hammerhead (vehicle) stuff. The missions aren't very well done.

 

[Zen]

LotSB is great. I did the entire thing not realizing I could level up Tali, however. :lol

Space Ninja and Shadow Broker are good. Overlord is also pretty good.

I'd avoid the Hammerhead (vehicle) stuff. The missions aren't very well done.

In terms of traversal it's much better (although I liked the heavier style of the Mako from ME1) but the combat portion is paper thin; no shields, no repair option, no alternate weapons, and it has very very low health, making it hard to engage enemy groups because of how their gun fire tracks the hammerhead easily.

 

[Mindlog]

So I'm gonna jump into the DLC, is it worth getting everything? IIRC there was a free pack with some vehicle-based missions, then two pay packs, one involving some kind of female space ninja and then shadow broker? All worth doing?

Also I left a message for Ray Muzyka on Facebook about the ME2/ME3 carryover issue, let's see if he responds

DLC Rankings:
Shadow Broker - The best. Must Buy. *Stasis is the most OP and broken power in the game. It's a huge reminder why ME1 Biotics were poorly balanced.
Overlord - Hopefully it hints at ME3 mission structure. Solid gameplay that builds into a great climax.
Kasumi - I really enjoyed this one ME needs more content in the spirit of the start of this mission. The SMG is is a great weapon in certain situations. It unlocks the rest of your ship.

Firepower Pack - All the weapons are useful.
Aegis - I hear good things about the armor. The sniper rifle makes your sniper squadmates death machines. I do not own this.

All the free stuff.
Whatever else is left. (I own none of it.)

The Firewalker stuff can be passable if you kill the walkers by ramming them. Otherwise it takes too long to complete. The bonus to biotic damage is really useful.

 

[subversus]

LotSB is great. I did the entire thing not realizing I could level up Tali, however. :lol
.

You mean Liara, right?

 

[IoCaster]

In the elevators or during important events perhaps, he was talking on the ship.

In ME all of the collected squad members attended the debrief. I remember Tali, Wrex, Ashley, Kaiden and Liara speaking up at one point or another.

In ME 2 you mostly had Miranda and/or Jacob for the debrief. Mordin joined at least once but that was it. I would have expected Garrus at least to attend since he was a mandatory recruit. Tali and some of the later recruits could be skipped so I'm not surprised that they weren't slotted for an appearance.

 

[Zen]

You mean Liara, right?

No.

Spoiler

Yes

 

[Kurtofan]

In ME all of the collected squad members attended the debrief. I remember Tali, Wrex, Ashley, Kaiden and Liara speaking up at one point or another.

In ME 2 you mostly had Miranda and/or Jacob for the debrief. Mordin joined at least once but that was it. I would have expected Garrus at least to attend since he was a mandatory recruit. Tali and some of the later recruits could be skipped so I'm not surprised that they weren't slotted for an appearance.

Well there are feuds between some members too.
I think they should have extended the concept of feuds, like Thane vs Jacob or Grunt vs Mordin.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Team discussions always involved the same members: Liara, Ashley and Kaidan.
It's still present in ME2 with Jacob, Miranda, Mordin, Thane, Jack, Tali and Legion.
Party banters are scarce because you need the right combo, but they're still here.
It's not Dragon Age but it's not inferior to Mass Effect 1.

In ME1 there were a few dialogues for most combinations of team mebers in the elevators sequences...

In ME2 I dind't get any team banter except a few lines here and there, even the lines squadmates say in missions are the same whatever members you bring.

There's almost zero interaction between your teammates. Except when you recruit them or something along the lines, every third squadmate you bring to a loyal mission it's merely a spectator...

It's dissapointing even compared to ME1.

 

[Rubezh]

I bet it's going to be revealed in ME3 that Shepard actually has Reaper technology inside him/her from Project Lazarus. Those facial scars on RenegadeShep are gnarly.

 

[Zen]

I bet it's going to be revealed in ME3 that Shepard actually has Reaper technology inside him/her from Project Lazarus. Those facial scars on RenegadeShep are gnarly.

I'm expecting that, granted I was also expecting a "4th directive" Robocop style moment from the Illusive Man and Ceberus if/when Shepard operated against his interests.

 

[Kurtofan]

In ME1 there were a few dialogues for most combinations of team mebers in the elevators sequences...

In ME2 I dind't get any team banter except a few lines here and there, even the lines squadmates say in missions are the same whatever members you bring.

There's almost zero interaction between your teammates. Except when you recruit them or something along the lines, every third squadmate you bring to a loyal mission it's merely a spectator...

It's dissapointing even compared to ME1.

Elevators discussions weren't that frequent(most I got was news stuff)
A few lines here and there is also the level of banter there was in ME1.
I got banter lines and comments from my companions in ME2 quite often.
Not all loyalty missions are devoid of comments from party members.
Considering we get more twelve companions instead of six and we still get quite a lot of comments from companions, it's far from being disappointing.

 

[Patryn]

Elevators discussions weren't that frequent(most I got was news stuff)
A few lines here and there is also the level of banter there was in ME1.
I got banter lines and comments from my companions in ME2 quite often.
Not all loyalty missions are devoid of comments from party members.
Considering we get more twelve companions instead of six and we still get quite a lot of comments from companions, it's far from being disappointing.

I'd rather have six companions with more banter than 12 companions with occasional comments. Because I have to agree with the others, I barely got any comments out of anyone. I can only think of maybe three places that there were banters, and they were brief.

 

[Somtaaw]

I'm expecting that, granted I was also expecting a "4th directive" Robocop style moment from the Illusive Man and Ceberus if/when Shepard operated against his interests.

Spoiler

Miranda wanted to put a chip but the ilusive man did not allow.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Elevators discussions weren't that frequent(most I got was news stuff)
A few lines here and there is also the level of banter there was in ME1.
I got banter lines and comments from my companions in ME2 quite often.
Not all loyalty missions are devoid of comments from party members.
Considering we get more twelve companions instead of six and we still get quite a lot of comments from companions, it's far from being disappointing.

There was more banter in ME1, more party banter, those few lines in the elevators where very insightful, they showed how progressed the relationship between the squadmates, their cultural differences, their vision of the other companion race, etc..

In ME2, squadmates only had contact when they were recruited and they were incredibly shallow...well there's too that interaction between Tali and Garrus about (funny enough) elevators....

Yeah, not all loyalty missions are devoid of comments from the third squadmate, in Jack's one there's 2 lines about how horrible is the place....awesome, I think there's one line more in Thane's one....

Is not as much as we didn't get enough companion banter (which we didn't but it wasn't that bad), we didn't get enough party banter, during the whole game, it feels like every squadmate is a total stranger form each other.

 

[Peff]

It's undeniable that there was banter, but the point is that it there should have been more of it. Coming off Dragon Age made it worse than it really is (because the conversations between party members were easily one of the best parts about it), but even taken by itself it's really lacking in that sense. It's not that they have to be talking all the time, but it happened way too rarely. It doesn't even have to be very elaborate, the whole "What happened? Is this a trap?" during Ilos helped set the mood nicely.

 

[IoCaster]

Well there are feuds between some members too.
I think they should have extended the concept of feuds, like Thane vs Jacob or Grunt vs Mordin.

Well this just points out how very limited and rare any interaction between squad members in ME 2 was. This was at the root of my main dissatisfaction with the structure of the game. Too many damn squad members.

You needed eight recruits to launch the suicide mission. That's counting Grunt (left in tube) and Legion (sold for credits). As long as you had Tali (shields), Garrus (Thanix) and Jacob (armor) you wouldn't lose anyone before you landed on the Collector Base. Heck they didn't even have to be loyal since you could get their upgrade for the asking as soon as they were recruited. So basically you could start the SM with six active squad members. That leaves two for personal squad, one for the tech job and the rest for 2nd team. If they're all loyal you could literally run the table and get everyone out alive without a fuss.

Here's an example:

Take Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, Garrus, Jack and Tali with you on the SM. All loyal.

Tali (tech) and Garrus, Jacob or Miranda (2nd team leader) = all survive.

Jack (biotic shield) Garrus, Jacob or Miranda (2nd team leader) = all survive.

Mordin (crew escort), Garrus, Jacob and Miranda (hold the line), Tali and Jack on personal squad to kill baby reaper = all survive.

If BioWare had dropped one or three squad members from the roster they could have squeezed in one or two more Collector missions. It would have given them the opportunity to give more weight to the main storyline. As it is, we're basically at the same point that we were at the end of ME with regard to the Reaper threat. Unless keeping the Collector Base gives us the ultimate weapon to defeat them with and that's doubtful since the natural inclination is to destroy the fucker. Meh, I'm not going to rehash all of the nitpicks I have about the game in this thread, but I expected an actual sequel and I ended up being disappointed. :/

 

[JonnyBrad]

If BioWare had dropped one or three squad members from the roster they could have squeezed in one or two more Collector missions. It would have given them the opportunity to give more weight to the main storyline. As it is, we're basically at the same point that we were at the end of ME with regard to the Reaper threat.

I agree massively with that. The story seemed to be the subplot of the game and the building a team was the main part. The whole game was recruit a team get the reaper IFF and then go kill the collectors. There wasn't any story progression which is what i care about more than the lifes of a load of team members who are most likely going to send me an email in ME3 and i'll never hear from them again. Nothing in ME2 compares to the speech from Sovereign or the Vigil scene.

Also i really hope they don't completely undervalue what was done in ME1 by having the Reapers be able to get to Earth quickly. Or them having another relay to use. I realise that ME1 was a self contained story with only a possiblity of a sequel but i hope they don't just doa half arsed retcon.

 

[Dilly]

A possibility?

Wasn't ME a trilogy from the start?

 

[Patryn]

A possibility?

Wasn't ME a trilogy from the start?

It was planned to be from the start, yes. But there was no way of knowing if the series would be financially successful enough to justify putting out three games.

If ME1 had bombed, there would have been no ME2, despite the plans.

 

[Mindlog]

The MESS activity book is getting more pages.

Quick, crossword answers for 2(HN?), 30, 41 across and 18 down!!?

 

[Lime]

How will Bioware be able to make the Reapers come back to the Milky Way without making ME1 unnecessary? What are their options? Or is it pretty much 100% determined that ME3 will render ME1 unimportant? I know EatChildren posted about it in the ME3 reveal thread, but I'm wondering if Bioware might be able to save the trilogy arc.

 

[Rufus]

How will Bioware be able to make the Reapers come back to the Milky Way without making ME1 unnecessary?

Turns out they were really, really close all this time. It's just that they needed a wake-up call. And they are going to only mention that in passing, if at all.

 

[Loam]

How will Bioware be able to make the Reapers come back to the Milky Way without making ME1 unnecessary? What are their options? Or is it pretty much 100% determined that ME3 will render ME1 unimportant? I know EatChildren posted about it in the ME3 reveal thread, but I'm wondering if Bioware might be able to save the trilogy arc.

My guess it will have something to do with keeper #20.

Spoiler

At the end of the Shadow Broker DLC you can view a bunch of video clips presumably from monitoring devices the shadow broker has planted. When you cycle through enough you'll find one that shows "Keeper 20" walking away from the corpse of a human near a citadel control panel. If you leave and come back the video will change to show Keeper 20 disabling the monitoring device. It's probably a long shot, but my guess is that this keeper is working on re-enabling citadel.

 

[Sai]

Turns out they were really, really close all this time.

Could you elaborate please? I never bothered with the supplemental reading.

 

[Wiggum2007]

How will Bioware be able to make the Reapers come back to the Milky Way without making ME1 unnecessary? What are their options? Or is it pretty much 100% determined that ME3 will render ME1 unimportant? I know EatChildren posted about it in the ME3 reveal thread, but I'm wondering if Bioware might be able to save the trilogy arc.

Keep in mind the significance of ME1's ending wasn't just preventing the Reapers from getting to the galaxy. The Reapers used the Citadel not only to instantaneously arrive back at the galaxy, but it also allowed them to unleash a total surprise attack. Using the Citadel they could disable all communications throughout the galaxy and shut down the mass relays, leaving all resistance isolated and unaware, for the Reapers to systematically and carefully wipe out their targets over a period of a few centuries. The Reapers are extremely powerful but not invincible, so the disruption of their intricate plan which now allows the entire galactic community being able to rally together, coordinate, etc. against them is pretty significant, imo.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Well I asked Ray Muzyka if I would miss out on cool stuff in ME3 if a couple of my ME2 crew members were dead and this was his reply:

I think you'll see other, equally cool stuff Gary

Make of that what you will!

 

[Shrennin]

Well I asked Ray Muzyka if I would miss out on cool stuff in ME3 if a couple of my ME2 crew members were dead and this was his reply:



Make of that what you will!

Hype for ME3 rising. I must [should] keep my expectations in check...

 

[Rufus]

Could you elaborate please? I never bothered with the supplemental reading.

Neither did I.

My guess it will have something to do with keeper #20.

Spoiler

At the end of the Shadow Broker DLC you can view a bunch of video clips presumably from monitoring devices the shadow broker has planted. When you cycle through enough you'll find one that shows "Keeper 20" walking away from the corpse of a human near a citadel control panel. If you leave and come back the video will change to show Keeper 20 disabling the monitoring device. It's probably a long shot, but my guess is that this keeper is working on re-enabling citadel.

So what was Sovereign good for, then? To wake up the keepers? Why have a 'back-up' that seems infinitely easier to accomplish, covertly, by a mere keeper? We're back at justifying what happened in ME.

 

[subversus]

Well I asked Ray Muzyka if I would miss out on cool stuff in ME3 if a couple of my ME2 crew members were dead and this was his reply:



Make of that what you will!

Shepard goes solo!!