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| 2 | %% This page is for YMMV items. Trivia or objective stuff goes on Trivia/MassEffect3 and VideoGame/MassEffect3 respectively |
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| 5 | %% %% There are legitimate concerns about the endings; however, this page is not Complaining About Endings You Don't Like. Focus on the tropes, and please don't just try to shove in tropes purely to vent about how much one dislikes them. |
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| 8 | * AccidentalAesop: A minor one about the differences between the private and state sectors shows up in the construction of the second ''Normandy'' and how the Alliance reacts to it. Overall, the second ''Normandy'' is a superior version of the original SSV, being built in about half the time, and boasts several amenities (like leather seats). However, Engineer Adams mentions that it took ''months'' for them to bring the SR-2 up to Alliance code because Cerberus cut corners ''everywhere''; apparently, leather seats were more important than preventing the main power core from discharging right into the engine room when under stress. [[AwesomeButImpractical The private sector may be fast and technically impressive, but it tends to be rushed and filled with errors]]; [[BoringButPractical the state sector may be slow and bureaucratic, but they take their time and have [=OSHA=] standards]]. |
| 9 | * AccidentalInnuendo: Samantha Traynor's comments about how much she likes Chess. "I love the feel of something solid in my hands" indeed... |
| 10 | * {{Adorkable}}: |
| 11 | ** In his more unguarded moments, Vega's kind of like a big kid at heart. He's a charming lug of a guy who really likes dinosaurs and sharks, and shamelessly flirting with pretty women (whether they're in his league or not) and just wants to be friends with everyone... unless they try to hurt him or his friends, [[BewareTheNiceOnes in which case watch out]]. |
| 12 | ** Samantha, especially in the ''Citadel'' DLC. She's allergic to public speaking (and a few other things, at least one of which is psychological), gets distracted by space-chess tournaments, and spends a chunk of the party being embarrassed about the things she wanted to do to EDI's voice. Then inadvertently admits to one that she hadn't said out loud before. |
| 13 | ---> "Hi! I'm...trying to socialize. [[SociallyAwkwardHero I'm not particularly good at it.]]" |
| 14 | ** Maya gives off this vibe even when she's ''not'' hopped up on medi-gel, gushing over what legends the ''Normandy'' crew are and mentioning how she named a tracking program after her cat. [[spoiler:Sadly, it's an act -- her real personality is a cold, confident SmugSnake. During the Armory fight, your squadmates comment they preferred her like this.]] |
| 15 | * AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler: Udina]] for some, since he finally started to show some sympathetic sides. For others, it's TakeThatScrappy. |
| 16 | * AlternateCharacterInterpretation: |
| 17 | ** Jacob Taylor. Even if you romanced him as female Shepard, he still hooks up with Dr. Cole during your incarceration. Given that he ''also'' hooked up with Miranda Lawson at one point, are we still sure she was the one to end things? And if she did, was it because she realized that Jacob might be obsessed with screwing the boss to get the "The priiize". It certainly puts his hatred of the Illusive Man into a strange new light. |
| 18 | ** The Illusive Man gets more of this in this game than he did in ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]]''. Most of it comes down to ''when'' he was indoctrinated. The novels suggest he's been subtly indoctrinated for the last twenty years, where as he didn't get fully enhanced to Saren-levels until fairly late in the game. This causes some debate over how responsible he is for his own actions; if he wasn't indoctrinated (or at least not enough that it could be called MoreThanMindControl), then he did a running leap over the MoralEventHorizon a ''long'' time ago. If he ''is'' indoctrinated, then he gets demoted from part of a BigBadEnsemble with Harbinger [[spoiler: and the Catalyst]] to being a DragonWithAnAgenda [[spoiler: or worse, the EvilGenius to the Catalyst's BigBad and TheDragon to Harbinger]]. Incidentally, this would also bump Kai Leng down from TheDragon to TheBrute. |
| 19 | ** Over time, Legion has been looked at much more critically than he was at the time of the games release. He lies and manipulates Shepard throughout the Rannoch arc, first not telling Shepard that he's going to enter the Geth consensus until Shepard arrives there, then he doesn't mention the Reaper upgrades until the last minute, but most of all gives a heavily biased recounting of the Morning War to Shepard during the Consensus mission. He glosses over the near-genocide of the Quarian race (the Geth would have killed billions of Quarians before the war ended) and never mentions at all how the Geth savagely murdered anyone who approached the Veil despite claiming that the Geth desired peace with organics. While it's understandable that Legion is looking out for the Geth's best interests, it's unsettling how much it's utilizing propaganda to influence Shepard while claiming to be perfectly logical. |
| 20 | ** There's a rather fair amount of this in regards to [[spoiler: [[TheScrappy the Catalyst]]]]. A lot of speculation ranges on just how [[WellIntentionedExtremist well-intentioned]] and [[VillainsNeverLie trustworthy]] he really is, which is fair since, [[spoiler:being the leader of the Reapers, he's responsible for countless genocides. Also his certainty concerning the inevitability of organic and synthetic conflict is called into question by Shepard possibly arranging a peace between the geth and the quarians.]] A BrokenBase has also emerged in regards to [[spoiler:Synthesis, his preferred solution to the organic and synthetic conflict, and whether or not forcibly rewriting the DNA of every person in the galaxy would result in the utopian picture he and the Synthesis ending paints.]] The Leviathan DLC clarifies a few things, by indicating that it's a limited AI doing what it was (badly) programmed to do, so its conclusions are not necessarily the best. |
| 21 | * AntiClimaxBoss: The fights with Kai Leng are a joke, despite how much of a threat the story tries to pass him off as. He barely attacks you and his attacks are weaker than the Phantoms he shares similarities to, while also lacking their OneHitKO ability, so he's actually less dangerous than a normal Phantom. The only danger are the enemies he summons, but Kai Leng poses so little danger that the player can just ignore him while they deal with the enemies. Even in-universe Shepard spends the whole fight mocking him. |
| 22 | * AssPull: [[spoiler:The reveal of Catalyst and, by extension, the Reapers' motivation was infamously criticized by numerous players for coming pretty much of out of nowhere and clashing with some of the pre-established lore. The Catalyst introducing itself as the Reaper's controlling intelligence conflicts quite a bit with Sovereign's claim from the first game that the Reapers had no controller but was a race of "nations" united around a common goal. The fact that the Catalyst resides inside the Citadel, and in fact claims that it is "part" of him, is especially egregious, as it begs the question of why the whole Vanguard Reaper system, which the plot of the first game was centered around, was even needed to shut down the Relay Network in the first place, if the intelligence in charge of the Reapers was inside the Citadel the whole time and presumably had some sort of control over the station.]] |
| 23 | * AudienceAlienatingEnding: The endings caused a lot of people who were on the fence for picking up this game or even trying out the series in the first place to leave it be due to the lack of variety, abruptness, and numerous plotholes lambasted by many players. However, while the Extended Cut DLC made things better, there is still a 50/50 BrokenBase. |
| 24 | * [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]: |
| 25 | ** Any battle with a Destroyer Reaper, but the one on Rannoch in particular. Defeating a ''Reaper'', [[spoiler:on foot]]. |
| 26 | ** The final showdown with Kai Leng. He may have gotten CutscenePowerToTheMax in your previous sequences, but both the fight and its [[KarmicDeath aftermath]] are outstandingly satisfying. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdTtDk4UEnU music]] is pretty awesome too. |
| 27 | ** The final battle of the ''Citadel'' DLC takes place [[spoiler:in the open cargo hold of a Normandy flying through the Citadel at high speed]], against [[spoiler:Shepard's evil clone, with [[MirrorMatch the abilities to match]]]]. |
| 28 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Some doubted Music/ClintMansell could fill Jack Wall's shoes. They were quickly proven wrong. |
| 29 | * [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Best Level Ever]]: |
| 30 | ** Tuchanka, Rannoch and Cronos Station (which includes the final fight with Kai Leng, mentioned above) are generally regarded as being among the best missions. |
| 31 | ** Grissom Academy, due to its sense of urgency, hefty dose of ContinuityPorn, character interactions, and its invigorating combat challenge. It even throws a few SugarWiki/FunnyMoments in for good measure. |
| 32 | ** The StormingTheCastle section of the ''Citadel'' DLC is filled with DeadpanSnarker banter as your crew--the entire playable roster (no LazyBackup), including the return of someone who was formerly DemotedToExtra--effortlessly takes apart the mercenaries hired to kill Shepard, and ends with one of the funniest {{lampshades}} in the series. And then there's the party afterwards, which reunites ''every squad member'' from all three games for a double dose of Funny and Heartwarming. The only downsides are that: 1) because some characters suffer {{Plotline Death}}s (IE the Virmire Non-Survivor, [[spoiler: Legion and Thane]]), they never appear at the party, and 2) some of the mercs are DemonicSpiders. |
| 33 | ** Uttuku, primarily due to its survival horror theme, the numerous shout outs to Aliens, the encounter with the Rachni Queen, and Grunt's last stand. |
| 34 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Every moment of Javik's Citadel "mission" is a "what the hell?" style hilarity: |
| 35 | -->'''Salarian director:''' CUE THE STUNT DOUBLE! |
| 36 | * BreatherBoss: Despite being built up as Shepard's equal and showing off impressive skills in cutscenes, Kai Leng himself is incredibly easy. He's mostly just a buffed-up Phantom, but he is fought in a cramped space, and lacks numerous abilities that Phantoms possess- including invisibility and a shield gauntlet. He also keeps his distance more than the more easily-killed Phantoms, and his gun doesn't do as much damage. In the final battle, it's really hard for him to actually kill you- his flunkies (including, ironically, two Phantoms) are a much bigger threat than he is. |
| 37 | * BreatherLevel: The "Geth Fighter Squadrons" mission. While the rest of the Rannoch arc consists of almost nonstop geth onslaughts, here you just interface with the geth consensus to disable a server with absolutely zero resistance combat-wise, while Legion plays back holo-logs detailing the moments the geth became sentient. |
| 38 | * BrokenBase: |
| 39 | ** The [[spoiler:unveiling of Tali's face for the first time in a picture. Is Tali too human looking or is she beautiful in all the right ways? Also, is [=BioWare=] scum for using a photoshopped stock image, or does it work out well enough to be forgiven? Among the changes of ''[[UpdatedRerelease Legendary Edition]]'' was completely changing the image into a new piece of artwork entirely.]] |
| 40 | ** [[spoiler: [[TheSingularity Synthesis]]. The ultimate destiny of all organic and technological evolution or the mass-subjugation of all sentient life in the Galaxy and the most egregious case of "Space Magic" of the three (non-Refuse) endings? And with the Extended Cut, are the Husks now self-aware and [[BodyHorror realize]] what's been done to them?]] |
| 41 | ** Omega: In-depth, engaging and worthwhile, or overpriced, too short and irrelevant? |
| 42 | ** Was the game's story flawless up to the endings or was it questionable from the start? While some feel that the game's story is almost perfect up until the return to Earth, others feel that there are issues with the story well before that, such as the characterization of Cerberus, or how many things from past games are not followed up on. |
| 43 | ** The endings either fit with the game's tone perfectly, or are awful, unrealistic, out-of-left field, and completely invalidate not just all the player investment in this game, but also in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 entire]] [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 series]]. Note that, until the extended cut DLC, this may have been the most one-sided "base breaker" in Internet history, to the point where it could almost be more properly called a "base unifier". In a poll of over 100,000 players on the [=BioWare=] forums, a mere 8% said that they liked the endings. It even led to the creation of a separate website. Occasionally, [=BioWare=] devs do post there. |
| 44 | ** The game itself. Even forgetting the endings and assuming they're just perfect and always were. Is the decision to deconstruct the product they spent years hyping an idiotic move that made for an underwhelming experience? Or is it an understandable or at least tolerable decision that at least concluded the story? |
| 45 | ** The handling of the Genophage and Geth arcs are the subject of heavy debate, with one side claiming that they're a satisfying capstone for their series long arc, while others accuse the story of destroying the GreyAndGrayMorality of the conflicts by whitewashing the Krogan and Geth as entirely innocent victims while completely ignoring the very real war crimes they committed during the Rebellion and Morning War, respectively. |
| 46 | ** The gameplay and mission design having much more of a pure combat emphasis than either of the two previous entries. Some fans have applauded this decision for cutting out the filler missions that no-one really liked in the previous games, feeling thematically appropriate considering that the story is set during a time of all-out war, and being a nice trade-off for the more developed RPG mechanics compared to the previous sequel. Other fans have criticized this change as making the gameplay too monotonous, and making nearly all the missions fall into the category of either "corridor shooter" or "horde mode". Though the latter group have been placated somewhat by the DLC packs (and by extension, the Legendary Edition), which add a little more in the way of mission variety to the base game. |
| 47 | * ComplacentGamingSyndrome: |
| 48 | ** At release, there were exactly two kinds of characters in the multiplayer environment: Human Vanguards, and characters who never earned any score. [[GrievousHarmWithABody Biotic Charge]] provide ridiculous mobility, it + [[CastFromHitPoints Nova]] + a shotgun provide ridiculous burst damage, both are spammable, and both are ''super'' useful for landing last hits (IE becoming a {{killsteal}}ing son of a bitch, often unintentionally). Even better, instead of taking the sensible route and {{nerf}}ing them, Bioware simply made them the new standard for power levels and built the post-release classes along similar lines. |
| 49 | ** In multiplayer on the Gold difficulty, even if you choose a random enemy and level, you'll land in rooms with Firebase White and Geth/Cerberus with alarming frequency. The map is somewhat justified, given how easy it is for a well-coordinated team to bunker up in Firebase White. The Geth is picked more often, since most players perceive them as the least challenging enemy group, mainly because the [[EliteMook Geth Primes]] are much easier to destroy compared to Cerberus' Atlas/Phantom combo. Cerberus, for some, has the edge, because fighting normal enemies isn't as frustrating, since they flank you far less often, and are more vulnerable to every kind of attack. Reapers and Collectors are barely chosen, because of the [[BossInMooksClothing Banshees/Scions/Praetorians]] alone. |
| 50 | ** A multiplayer update affected the geth to discourage [[FanNickname FBWGG]] (Firebase White/Geth/Gold) farming. They are not necessarily more difficult to fight. Many players find their new tweaks cheap and frustrating. Geth rocket troopers, hunters, and primes all can hitstun players. In the case of Geth Primes, they can kill all but the most resilient characters in one attack salvo since their hitstuns leaves players completely out of control of their characters. Geth Pyros' attack range extends much further than the flame graphic depicts. Finally, Geth Hunters can attack even when staggered. Regardless of these changes to the geth, FBWGG lobbies were still the norm in Gold-level matches until the Retaliation DLC. The fix came in the form of a map redesign, adding a flank route to the camp spot and introducing the Geth Bomber to flush out entrenched players. |
| 51 | ** About 1/3 of players online uses the Infiltrator due to Tactical Cloak being easy to avoid enemy fire and increased damage, Geth Infiltrator being of note due to Hunter Mode granting a wallhack and increased fire rates. It's gotten to the point where you may get kicked out of a gold match for simply preferring another class besides the Infiltrator. |
| 52 | ** Then to further avert this, there's cases of trying to get high scores on all maps which greatly improves single player mode, as well as the ability to switch to a different character in the same class and spend all the XP you gained before, then send them out and throw off the game's ArtificialBrilliance that had learnt from the character you were using for the past few hours. |
| 53 | ** As a counter to [=BioWare=] making the FBWGG strategy less viable many gamers have taken up Firebase Rio's Magic Box Method for farming gold and even platinum difficulty games. On the south end of Firebase Rio is a open container with an ammo box inside. All four members stuffed inside offers several advantages including basically unlimited ammunition, only two avenues of approach for enemies (only one is used by the AI more often than not), two defensive sharp corners for the enemy to navigate through and offers great view of half the map, limited space that groups enemies making area of effect attacks extremely effective and accuracy almost a non-issue, easy revival, and protection from banshees and atlas' one hit kill attacks (because they are too tall to fit in the box and can't get close enough to the characters to execute the move). |
| 54 | * CompleteMonster: |
| 55 | ** [[ProfessionalKiller Kai Leng]] [[labelnote:Other appearances]]''[[Literature/MassEffectRetribution Retribution]]'' & ''[[Literature/MassEffectDeception Deception]]'' novels; ''[[ComicBook/MassEffectFoundation Foundation]]'' comic series[[/labelnote]] is Cerberus's final agent, a {{smug|Snake}}, [[FantasticRacism racist]] killer who murdered a Krogan in a fight before joining the organization. Leng carries out countless murders for Cerberus, including the daughter of Asari crime lord Aria, willing to kill a damaged teenager to ensure his own safety in the end. Becoming a nemesis to [[Characters/MassEffectCommanderShepard Commander Shepard]], Leng leads an assault on the Citadel with massive casualties to cause a coup for Cerberus's puppet Udina and later attempts to stop Shepard so that the Asari world of Thessia dies in the process. |
| 56 | ** [[ItsAllAboutMe Henry Lawson]] is an egomaniacal businessman and scientist obsessed with having a dynasty. To that end, Henry creates DesignerBabies based off of his DNA. Viewing them only as tools, he [[AbusiveParents controls them their entire lives]], molding them to meet his expectations, such as he did with [[Characters/MassEffectMirandaLawson Miranda Lawson]]. Should any of them be subpar, Henry [[OffingTheOffspring kills them]]. When he appears, Henry is working with the Illusive Man in using the refugee camp, Sanctuary, as a front for gathering test subjects to study Reaper Indoctrination. Thousands of civilians are experimented on, including children, resulting in either their deaths or their being turned into husks. Unlike the rest of Cerberus, who are trying to help humanity, Lawson is only committing atrocities to save his own life and to have future generations idolize him. When he's cornered by Shepard, Henry uses his younger daughter, Oriana, as a HumanShield, and, depending upon the player's actions, he can end up killing either Oriana or Miranda. |
| 57 | * ContestedSequel: ''[[http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/mass-effect-3 Mass Effect 3]]'' [[http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/mass-effect-2 got slightly lower scores]] than ''Mass Effect 2'', [[CriticalDissonance though it sold significantly more.]] |
| 58 | * CriticalDissonance: The game received universal acclaim from critics, with, according to claims in advertisement, ''over 75 perfect scores''. Fan opinion, however, in least in regards to the original endings, was almost unanimously negative, with about only 8% in a poll of about 100,000 players saying they were satisfied with the original endings. Considering the default state of the fandom is a [[BrokenBase base broken into about a dozen or more pieces]], that's ''really'' saying something. [[http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2012/03/22/mass-effect-3-gears-of-war-3-and-why-reviewers-fail/ Examined here]]. [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand]], the game handily outperformed its predecessors, [[https://venturebeat.com/2012/04/12/game-sales-fall-25-percent-in-march-despite-hot-sales-of-mass-effect-3/ selling over twice in its first month]] what ''Mass Effect 2'' managed in the same time, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_3#Sales over six million copies sold in total]], by far the highest of any game in the series. It also got an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 from [[http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Mass-Effect-3/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8024541095d 107,000 users on the Microsoft Store]], consistent with its critical reviews. |
| 59 | * DelusionConclusion: A popular (though officially Jossed) fan theory surrounding the game's infamous ending suggests that [[spoiler: Shepard has been slowly indoctrinated by the Reapers over the course of the series (the third game especially), and that everything that happens after either being hit by Harbinger's laser or, alternatively, the final encounter against the Illusive Man, is entirely in their head, with Shepard's highly unlikely survival in the rubble in the Destroy ending at high War Readiness actually being them coming to their senses after the Reapers were destroyed by the Alliance.]] |
| 60 | * DemonicSpider: |
| 61 | ** The Geth Hunters. This time they turn actually invisible, and unless you are careful they can start shooting you in the back at close distance just when you are engaged with that Prime. Their plasma shotguns, due to a built-in charge-up mechanic, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard allows them to fire despite being in a stagger animation]] - never mind the significant range that the "shotgun" has as well. |
| 62 | ** Depending on where you face them, Banshees. They're well armored, have a powerful (if slow) biotic attack, use TeleportSpam as their main mode of transportation and if they get close... well, things get unpleasant for you. In an open battlefield, they're manageable, but in close quarters? Yeesh, things tend to get hairy. Their close quarters attack not only instant kills but makes teammates unable to revive you, forcing them to go the whole rest of the round without you. Easy to avoid normally, but if you get cornered or flanked near one it won't be pretty. This goes double for MightyGlacier character types who can normally take a lot of damage but lack a dodge maneuver, as this attack renders their damage resistance irrelevant and their lack of a dodge makes getting out of the way a lot harder, especially with the TeleportSpam making their movement unpredictable. |
| 63 | ** Phantoms also qualify, especially on objective waves. Like the Banshee, they have an [[OneHitKO Instant Kill]] move. They're a fair bit squishier, but they're also very fast, don't announce their entrance onto the field and have cloaking as well as a powerful projectile attack, all of these make it very easy for a Phantom to wipe out an entire party before they realize what happened. They also frequently come in packs of 2-3 or more and have a ranged attack in addition to their sword. They are what makes Cerberus dangerous and classes with Stasis so useful. |
| 64 | ** Scions, Praetorians and Abominations from the Retaliation DLC, especially their Possessed variants. The former carries a mortar cannon that's even stronger than the Ravager's (in fact it's the most powerful projectile attack in the entire game and only takes three shots to kill you because of the way the shield gate works) and can stagger players. The possessed variant can send a flurry of 5-6 grenades into a medium sized cluster that's almost guaranteed to kill a player in range. Praetorians are the floating boss monsters that happen to come in great numbers on higher difficulties, even more so than other boss monsters and their lasers will cut through most of your shields if they even hit the area near you unless you're in cover. The possessed variant gains homing missiles in addition to its particle beams and becomes a complete damage sponge, being over twice as durable as an Atlas Mech. Abominations are constantly on fire and usually [[TakingYouWithMe explode on death]]. The possessed version does so with the force of an M-920 Cain pocket nuke, which makes TotalPartyKill a very real possibility. |
| 65 | ** [=CAT6=] Heavies from ''Citadel''. Although they look like a simple PaletteSwap of Cerberus Guardians, Heavies are far more deadly. Their shields resist armor piercing attacks, they have Armor status so they can't be disabled with biotics and they use M-76 Revenants, which are light machine guns. |
| 66 | ** Cerberus Engineers are pathetically weak in a standup fight, but the turrets they set up can mow you and your entire squad down in a matter of seconds. The situation isn't helped by the fact that they [[ArtificialBrilliance always manage to place turrets in chokepoints you need to pass through, and usually near a concealed spot where they can safely repair it.]] Did we mention that Grissom Academy is full of the little bastards? |
| 67 | * DisappointingLastLevel: The final mission in London. Scenerywise, London looks like most other wrecked cities from any other game at the time of release, being very grey and dusty, dominated by a dull blue lighting scheme, and many assets and scenery pieces sees quite a bit of conspicuous repeated reuse throughout the level. The vast majority of gameplay sees the player advancing down very linear corridors while fighting hordes of enemies, which is sporadically broken up by the occasional turret section or HoldTheLine battle, and at no point are there any significant twists to this formula. Few of the War Assets appear onscreen, and the game lacks a final boss, and, for matter, any kind of notable climax in regards to the combat part of the gameplay. Instead, the final combat sequence is yet another lengthy hold the line battle, against powerful enemies while the player has to dodge a OneHitKO Reaper beam. It feels more like a frustrating and difficult slog, than a challenging and satisfying experience. |
| 68 | * DracoInLeatherPants: General Oleg Petrovsky. True, he is very [[AffablyEvil affable]], [[EvenEvilHasStandards has standards and a code of honor]], and even works to protect the station from the out of control adjutants. Apparently that's reason enough to ignore that he's still a loyal member of [[EvilInc Cerberus]], puts draconian restrictions on Omega's [[FantasticRacism non-human]] population,[[note]]only non humans are quarantined in special areas and only non-humans are shot on sight if they are caught bearing weapons[[/note]] and is still working to [[BodyHorror turn people]] into controllable adjutants for Cerberus' army. |
| 69 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 70 | ** The final opponent of the game, [[spoiler:a Marauder you shoot while limping to the beam in London, has been named [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467pmIX-oZo Marauder Shields]] and]] gained a large fanbase. He tried to [[spoiler:[[http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o4/Vulpix1000/motivator48cfb4eb2d9b0e12556e3209267450038685b648.jpg save us from the ending]]]]. [[spoiler: [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0zlheV62H1rrlnm8o1_1280.jpg We must]] [[http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/268/801/23f.jpg honor]] [[http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/269/187/6d3.jpg his noble sacrifice]].]] |
| 71 | ** In a similar vein, the three husks Shepard kills in the same sequence have been dubbed [[IncrediblyLamePun The Three Husketeers]]. |
| 72 | ** Though not to the extent of Marauder Shields, Major Coats has quite a few fans for a character with such little screen-time. The debut trailer is likely a big reason for this. Having the same voice as [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Hawke]] probably helps. |
| 73 | ** [[LipstickLesbian Samantha Traynor]] has gathered quite a few fans, due to thoroughly averting any possible BridgeBunny status and instead providing a much needed ''[[NumberTwo Bridge-Officer]]'' for the ''Normandy''. |
| 74 | ** Bray, Aria's batarian lieutenant from the ''Omega'' DLC, is well liked by the fanbase despite only having a handful of lines, mostly because he's quite possibly the only batarian in the galaxy who gets along with Shepard. |
| 75 | ** Cortez, your shuttle pilot. Primarily due to his SnarkToSnarkCombat with Vega and being generally a pretty cool guy. |
| 76 | ** Padok Wiks is by far the most popular character to replace a character that died in his respective storyline, as he is a very compelling and sympathetic character in his own right, with much to differentiate him from Mordin. |
| 77 | * EpilepticTrees: |
| 78 | ** [[spoiler:Notable during the dream sequences the Boy always appears with the Reaper sound and when you run away from the boy, you can sometimes hear the voice of the Illusive Man and only of the Illusive Man.]] |
| 79 | ** Liara mind-melds with Shepard at the end of the game under the auspices of sharing memories with him or her, something Asari can do with people they are particular close to. She even explicitly refers back to a conversation she and Shepard had in the first game when this particular ability was mentioned. The only problem? The conversation in question was about Asari ''reproduction'' and the entire sequence has this subtle vibe to it. Turn your head and that giant glowing light Liara and Shepard fall into looks ''incredibly'' [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything familiar]]. This happens even if you ''don't'' romance her. Hence the reason many fans had the honest reaction along the lines of, "Dude, did Liara just casually ''rape me''?" |
| 80 | ** The Indoctrination Theory, one of the interpretations of the endings, says that [[spoiler: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Shepard has been being slowly indoctrinated over the course of the game]], and the endings show Shepard succumbing to the indoctrination or fighting it, depending on their choice. Synthesis is Shepard giving in to indoctrination, as it requires the highest EMS, which takes longer to accumulate, thus Shepard being indoctrinated longer. Control is Shepard being indoctrinated enough to believe they can control the Reapers while still wanting conventional life to continue and flourish. Destroy is Shepard overcoming indoctrination, and a "choice" offered by the Reapers to reassure Shepard that they aren't indoctrinated.]] The fact that this fan theory has persisted despite being officially {{Jossed}} is a testament to how powerful of a theory it is, and to the divisiveness of the story as a whole. |
| 81 | * EsotericHappyEnding: |
| 82 | ** The ''original'' endings, with the fate of the galaxy left largely unclear and the possibility of [[spoiler: the ''Normandy''[='=]s crew dying on the alien planet]], plus a plot hole that implied that [[spoiler:every army Shephard rallied to his side would probably starve to death on Earth without the Mass Relays]], left many fans scratching their heads at best. The free Extended Cut DLC expands upon many of the issues surrounding these endings, and [[spoiler: clarifies that the ''Normandy''[='=]s crew survives and repaired the ship]], as well as [[spoiler: offering a fourth "Refusal" ending wherein Shepard chooses none of the above, their army is destroyed, and the galaxy falls to the Reapers, but the civilizations of the next cycle will be victorious against the Reapers thanks to Shepard's efforts to warn them. The worst version of the Destroy ending is back to the original, with some added lines about just how screwed everyone will be.]] |
| 83 | ** [[spoiler: The Synthesis ending, which is presented (at least according to the Catalyst) as a GoldenEnding, arguably ends the war by handing the Reapers total and permanent victory. Living things and machines, sentient or not (even leaves have glowing wires now) are permanently altered - regardless of their willingness. Many issues still remain that the game never actually addresses, such as the fate of harvested people, and it comes across as saying the Reapers getting what they want is a good thing.]] |
| 84 | * EvenBetterSequel: ''Mass Effect 3''[='=]s combat is considered a huge step up from the first two gameplay-wise. It's much more fluid, the enemies are smarter, the melee system is more satisfying and powerful, and the overly-simplified weapon system from ''2'' gets significantly fleshed out, with greater weapon variety and the return of weapon mods. |
| 85 | * FanDislikedExplanation: The origin and motives of the Reapers are disliked by a significant portion of fans. Especially considering [[TheManBehindTheMan the source]] of said explanations has a bias. Many feel it doesn't provide a satisfying resolution, comes out of no where, and goes against the themes of the series, especially the idea that a collected and united galaxy is the only hope to save it, when in the end, a single person pressing one of three buttons is the deciding factor. |
| 86 | * FanPreferredCutContent: |
| 87 | ** A [[https://v1.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125213-Mass-Effect-Writer-Reveals-Discarded-Ending-Ideas considered]] ending was revealing the dark energy caused by Mass Effect technology was hastening the end of the universe and the Reaper's harvesting civilizations was to delay this until a solution could be found. This was presumably meant to be {{foreshadowed}} by the Haestrom subplot in ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]]'', where the planets star was prematurely aging due to dark energy, [[AbortedArc which was ultimately ignored]]. While the author cautions there's no way to know if the idea would have worked out well, given [[FanDislikedExplanation how unpopular the Reaper's in-game motives were]] and the resulting infamous ending many fans saw this as preferable if for nothing else having better buildup and cohesion with the rest of the trilogy. |
| 88 | ** A [[https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/s1qt4/ashleys_deleted_scene_from_the_me3_script_using/ deleted scene]] between Ashley and Shepard where the former ask the later about their experience of being dead, with Shepard answering that they don't remember anything at all. It got far enough to be in the game's script but was never actually implemented, which many players consider a waste as it would have been a great insight into both Ashley's character (considered to be poorly written in the rest of the game) as well as Shepard's (since the subject of them being ''actually dead'' and their feelings about it are never really brought up until the game's second-to-last mission). |
| 89 | * FanonDiscontinuity: |
| 90 | ** Everything after [[spoiler:the final encounter with the Illusive Man]] is this for many. Doesn't matter the reason (significant blood loss, continued exposure to Geth/Cerberus/Prothean/Reaper mind altering technology, stress from the fate of your species and the galaxy resting on your shoulders, or personal losses), just forget about it. [[DyingDream It never happened.]] |
| 91 | ** Some claim it ends just after you get hit by a blast from Harbinger, with everything from "[[FanNickname Marauder Shields]]" onwards being a dream. |
| 92 | ** Following the release of the ''Citadel'' DLC, some have said that they consider the end of the DLC their canon ending to the game, either outright ignoring everything following Sanctuary, or starting the DLC after the credits roll and using it as an epilogue to the game. There is also a fan mod, called Citadel Epilogue Mod, which converts the Citadel DLC into a proper DistantFinale by giving it a new intro and removing or replacing the (very few) mentions of the Reaper invasion still ongoing. |
| 93 | ** There is even a small but vocal community of players who reject the entire singleplayer campaign and consider the multiplayer mode to be the ''[[FanonDiscontinuity true]]'' story of the game. |
| 94 | ** Some players, dissatisfied with the canon ending, have used modding to create their own ending. One such mod, the Mass Effect Happy Ending Mod (or MEHEM), [[spoiler: gives Harbinger a few lines when Shepard and co. approach the Conduit, and the major change occurs right after Shepard activates the Crucible. The Catalyst never shows up and the last bit of the game plays out as a long cutscene, with the Reapers being destroyed by the Crucible, but EDI, the geth and Shepard survive, and it plays Hackett's voiceover that states that the mass relays and galactic civilization can be rebuilt.]] |
| 95 | * FanficFuel: Tali's fear of spiders is frequently used in fanfics for comedy, especially if the Rachni have a high presence. |
| 96 | * FanNickname: |
| 97 | ** The nameless sniper from the first trailer was called "Big Ben" until he was revealed as Major Coats in-game. |
| 98 | ** People on Website/{{GameFAQs}} appear to like calling the boy seen at the beginning of the game, "Vent Boy". |
| 99 | ** Phantoms have become "Ninja Bitches". |
| 100 | ** James Vega: All of [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 David]] [[Film/SpaceMutiny Ryder's]] nicknames. |
| 101 | ** [[spoiler:"[[ShapedLikeItself Prothy the Prothean]]"]] for the [[WalkingSpoiler spoilerific]] {{downloadable|Content}} squadmate. Referenced in-game when Joker insists on calling [[spoiler:Javik]] by that name; [[spoiler:Javik]], true to form, [[TheAllSolvingHammer threatens Joker]] [[ThrownOutTheAirlock with an airlocking]]. |
| 102 | ** Diana Allers is called "Space [[Series/JerseyShore Snooki]]." |
| 103 | ** The [[spoiler: Catalyst ]] has earned the nickname "Task Manager", because it gives you the option of [[spoiler: controlling the Reapers, altering them, or deleting them. In other words [[DontExplainTheJoke CTRL+ALT+DELETE.]]]] He's also commonly referred to as [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey Starchild]]. |
| 104 | ** Similarly, 'Space Magic' for the [[spoiler:power of the Crucible]]. |
| 105 | ** "Marauder Shields" and "The Three Husketeers", the four enemies encountered on the way to the beam in London [[spoiler: after Shepard gets wrecked by Harbinger trying to [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill bring a starship-grade weapon to bear]] on Shepard, which wind up being the final four enemies you fight in the whole series]]. |
| 106 | ** [[FunWithAcronyms S.A.V.E]]: All four Volus classes in one team (Sentinel, Adept, Vanguard, Engineer). Takes four {{Lethal Joke Character}}s and makes them into a Lethal Joke Team. |
| 107 | ** Any team with four Krogan will usually be referred to as a Quad, after Krogan slang for their four testicles. |
| 108 | ** [[ComicBook/IronMan "War Machine"]] for Geth Juggernauts specced around firing out barrages of Siege Pulses.[[note]]Bonus Points for using red and gold or silver color schemes.[[/note]] |
| 109 | ** If you play a Hunter Mode-less Geth Soldier with an Acolyte, chances are you will be called the [[KillItWithFire Toaster]] |
| 110 | ** After some hilarious and well-written multiplayer guides, the Krogan Vanguard is now the Murder Train and the Krogan Warlord is the Hammerlord. |
| 111 | ** The new "retrieval" objective has been dubbed the Pizza Delivery. Lampshaded in the ''Citadel'' DLC, when they're planning the raid on the Archives; Vega gets hungry and orders a ''literal'' pizza delivery. |
| 112 | ** "Enforcement gauntlets"? Nooooo, the batarians use the [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Falcon Punch]]. |
| 113 | ** "Super MAC" for the lead writer Mac Walters. |
| 114 | ** Eve was known by the fanbase as "Krogan Princess" prior to the game's release, before her actual in-game alias was revealed. |
| 115 | ** Players who had Legion die in the suicide mission won't actually know that the backup is called the "Geth VI" in playthroughs where Legion was never activated or was sold to Cerberus. If Shepard activated Legion, then the backup will be referred to as Legion in subtitles as well. So some players nicknamed it by its CatchPhrase, "We are not Legion", to differentiate it from the original Legion. |
| 116 | ** [=ME3=] solidified Anderson's role as Shepard's father figure, to the point where he is frequently called "Dadmiral Anderson". |
| 117 | * FoeYayShipping: There’s Cerberus assassin Kai Leng and spacefaring hero Shepard (mostly female Shepard). Whether it’s a straight-up romance with happy aspects, a MindGameShip that has an obssessed Leng stalking and screwing with Shepard, or [[TheMasochismTango an unhealthy relationship full of hate sex]] varies. |
| 118 | * GameBreaker: [[GameBreaker/MassEffect See here]]. |
| 119 | * GameplayDerailment: The [[http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/War_Assets/Alliance#N7_Special_Ops_Team "N7 Special Ops"]] War Asset can be this if you play enough multiplayer. When any one of the 6 classes gets to level 20, you have the option of promoting the class, resetting it's level to 1 adding 75 points to the war asset. This can be done over and over without restriction, eventually amassing so many war assets it no longer becomes possible to get any of the Low EMS endings, even if you have only 50% galactic readiness and lack the "Extended Cut DLC" meant to lower the War Asset requirement to get the best endings. This single War Asset will make ever other War Asset worthless fodder. Of course, you have to do this ''a lot'' - as in, spend more time playing multiplayer than any two playthroughs of the regular singleplayer campaign. |
| 120 | * GoddamnedBats: |
| 121 | ** Everybody's favorite enemy, the Husks! Even worse, now they can grab you, knocking you out of cover and forcing you to flail around (read: mash the melee attack button) to shake them off and kill them. |
| 122 | ** Marauders and Ravagers are their longer-ranged counterparts on higher difficulties. Their rapid-fire weapons make them quite capable of ripping shields to pieces while players are focused on other enemies. Ravagers in particular can kill players within 2-4 shots if they manage to be exposed. |
| 123 | ** Phantoms and Nemeses: It's bad enough they fight in a way you're not used to (Nemeses use cover perfectly and can knock out your shields with one shot; Phantoms have biotic barriers, dance around, cloak to heal themselves, backflip, and go into melee combat surprisingly fast), its just that there are so damn many of them in a lot of levels. Phantoms can OneHitKO you as well, rendering you unable to be revived... aggravating in multiplayer games when it happens to your squad's most effective member; players usually make Phantoms top priority even compared to Atlases to kill as quickly as possible. |
| 124 | ** Goddamned Geth Bombers from the Retaliation DLC. These guys have armor and shields, making them somewhat tedious to kill, and fly and jump around ''constantly'' while launching clusters of grenades at you that inflict moderate damage and stagger you, leaving you a sitting duck. They also love to swarm you and erratically dodge, making them hard to hit, and they are fond of getting right up in your face, often flushing you out of cover and staggering you with their attacks. They are ''the'' reason that camping on Firebase White is no longer a viable strategy. |
| 125 | ** Also from the Retaliation DLC: Collector Captains. In addition to being able to shred you at long range like Marauders, Collector Captains can send out hoards of seekers. These little robots are fast, incredibly hard to hit, and if they touch you will make you unable to use your powers for a short period of time. The Collector Captains just love to spam them. When possessed, not only do the Collector Captains themselves gain more health and shields, but so do their seeker swarms, making theme even more of a pain to kill. |
| 126 | ** The Cerberus Dragoons in multiplayer. They are pretty simple, they [[AttackAttackAttack just charge into close combat and attack]]. However, their armor means that they can generally survive long enough to get there, they move much more quickly than most armored units, and though slow their melee attack involves a DeadlyLunge with charged lashes that can [[HerdHittingAttack hit in a wide area]] and does an unpleasant amount of damage. Alone they are not too dangerous, but they have a habit of flushing you out of cover and forcing you to focus on them while other forces move around to flank you and get entrenched. |
| 127 | * GoodBadBugs: |
| 128 | ** In MP sometimes an enemy's instakill attack glitches and leaves a small window for the victim to use medi-gel or have a teammate revive them. |
| 129 | ** Another MP related example. If you get knocked out on any map there is a possibility of either ragdoll'ing off the edge into an normally inaccessible area or clip through the floor. The effects are surprisingly positive. Not only do you teleport to the start/extraction area, you get instant revived without using medi-gel! ''Very'' helpful if you just got surrounded by enemies before dying. |
| 130 | ** Multiplayer again. Attempting to use a Medigel when you aren't dead doesn't consume the medigel or give you any health back, but it does cancel whatever animation your character is currently performing. This is very useful if you do it in the middle of a reload animation, because the new clip is usually chambered well before your reload animation completes. Time it right, and a "reload cancel" can almost halve your reload time (time it wrong, though, and your attempted reload has no effect). PC players usually need to create a secondary keyboard or mouse binding for the Medigel command to make this glitch practical. |
| 131 | ** Tali [[spoiler: can die on Rannoch if you side with the Geth. In some games, this doesn't stop her from returning from the dead to romance Shepard later.]] |
| 132 | ** If you save everyone you can, [[spoiler: the game can make a ''male'' Shepard [[HoYay "remember" some of Thane's romance dialogue]] in the final dream sequence.]] Some speculate this is caused by a remaining system flag from when [[spoiler:[[DummiedOut Thane was going to be romance-able by Shepards of both genders]]]]. |
| 133 | ** Firebase Hydra has a back right corner blocked off by unbreakable boxes. However there is a ledge nearby that players can run or combat roll onto from another higher ledge that allows them to go behind the boxes and have a permenant unbreakable cover to hide behind. Combine with this the Demolisher's Supply Pylon for ammo and a permenant camping spot can be made. |
| 134 | ** The so-called "Right Hand Advantage" in multiplayer matches is integral for any GlassCannon character to survive extended engagements. Despite being a third-person shooter, the game tracks bullet hitscans relative to the camera position and its crosshairs, rather than the actual barrel of the character's gun. Thus, it's possible to peek out your crosshairs around cover and shoot at enemies or use abilities while keeping the character model safely behind cover. |
| 135 | ** One intrepid player in the [=BioWare=] Social Network found out that sync-kills cannot be performed by enemies if the altitudes between the enemy and the player did not match. Basically, if you positioned yourself below a Banshee on a ramp, that Banshee would never be able to grab you for an instant kill. As soon as the community caught wind, maps like Vancouver, Reactor, and others featuring large inclines suddenly became havens for Vanguards and other melee characters, as they could then use their full repertoire of moves without fear of being grabbed as long as they stayed on a set of stairs. |
| 136 | ** Multiplayer once again. In random character classes the skill points glitch out at level 15 to 17 giving the character a massive amount of points and the ability to max out every skill where usually it would not be possible. People report it happening to various classes so it is not restricted to any one specialization, gender, class, or race. |
| 137 | ** Some players discovered that enemies only maintain one value to track its received damage from players using damage-over-time attacks, like a majority of fire-based abilities and Warp. Stacking two unique sources of damage-over-time would cause both to deliver all of its damage immediately. As a result, Incendiary Ammo suddenly became a much more favored consumable for classes like the Vorcha and Geth Trooper, as they were equipped with flamethrowers for a skill. Equipping the Reegar Carbine (which was poor against armor but had incredible DPS otherwise) allowed these classes to melt Brutes and Ravagers in seconds. |
| 138 | ** All characters in multiplayer get some damage reduction while performing melee attacks, usually 25% or thereabouts. The N7 Slayer vanguard gets upwards of 90% for some reason, making it effectively invincible when combined with well-timed Charges to restore barriers. It's entirely possible (albeit time consuming) to solo Geth at higher difficulties with nothing but light melees and Charges. |
| 139 | ** The Batarian Sentinel has the so-called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eTaCRQNH6g Batarian Hate-Slide]]" - a Batarian's heavy melee will always track its designated target during its lengthy wind-up and never fail to connect. If you use Shockwave to fling your target prior to locking on with heavy melee, you will follow your hapless foe several meters, sliding across terrain and delivering your head-crushing punch at the end of your target's flight. Definitely one of the more amusing glitches in the game. |
| 140 | * HamAndCheese: The ''Citadel'' DLC is remarkably ''less'' [[LighterAndSofter serious]] than everything else in series. It's also filled with a lot of FandomNod and AscendedMeme. |
| 141 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 142 | ** After the mission to the Ardat-Yakshi monastery, Traynor speaks to Allers about her doing a story about it, which she isn't planning, given her big asari viewership. Allers says "do you know how fast an e-democracy can turn on its allies?" Given the backlash against Creator/BioWare after the endings, it almost sounds prophetic. |
| 143 | ** [[spoiler:Remember how Ereba (the Blue Rose of Illium) stated that she wasn't sure if she should marry a krogan because they're a long-term commitment while with humans you only have to stick out for a hundred years before they die? Well, how does a mere year sound instead, Ereba?[[note]]Her boyfriend Charr is dead by the time you discover him in ''Mass Effect 3''.[[/note]]]] |
| 144 | * SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Many have commented on how Mark Meer has greatly improved as Male Shepard, finally being able to bring in the right amount of emotion for many of the dialogue compared to his stiff presentation in the first game (''Mass Effect 2'' was an intermediate stage for him). A few have even gone so far as to say that he did better than fan favorite Creator/JenniferHale in this game. |
| 145 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 146 | ** Prior to ''[=ME3=]''[='=]s release, [=BioWare=] writer Jennifer Hepler (who wasn't involved with ''Franchise/MassEffect'') received much criticism when a five year old interview surfaced, where she stated how she wished games could fast forward through the gameplay to get right into the story bits. Many gamers found her statements to be very ignorant and disrespectful towards the gaming medium she's writing for. Interestingly enough, [=BioWare=] introduced "Story Mode" for ''Mass Effect 3'', which reduces the gameplay's difficulty to simplistic levels, so anyone can finish the game with little difficulty. [=BioWare=] specifically did this for gamers who were interested in the series, but were too intimidated by its gameplay. Perhaps Ms. Hepler was onto something... |
| 147 | ** TheStinger features [[spoiler: Buzz Aldrin as the ''Stargazer'', narrating the entire series to his young grandson]]. Suddenly Shepard's love of punching out annoying reporters makes a ''lot'' more sense! [[note]] Buzz Aldrin once infamously punched a moon landing skeptic for cornering him and his daughter.[[/note]] |
| 148 | * IKnewIt: |
| 149 | ** Creator/BioWare forum user screwoffreg accurately described Mass Effect 3's endings word-by-word [[http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/105/index/970146/1 way back in 2010.]] |
| 150 | --->[[spoiler: "There are two endings I wouldn't like for ME 3. One being a random GOD LIKE force that saves the Galaxy or another being that to defeat the Reapers, everyone has to become a primitivist and destroy the Relays, Citadel, etc. Both would make me pretty unhappy as those endings have been done to death."]] |
| 151 | ---->-- '''screwoffreg''', a.k.a. "the Prophet". |
| 152 | ** On the Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer boards, there were various ideas being thrown around for defecting Reaper troops. When the Leviathan DLC emerged, the Leviathan became [[MindControl the most lore-friendly means of doing so]]. Come the ''Reckoning'' DLC, that's what happened with the Collector Adept, though most ideas had the defecting Reapers still be thralls of the Leviathan. |
| 153 | * LesYay: During the ''Citadel'' DLC, Jack and Miranda will once again start bickering with one another. This time, however, the insults get to the point where Miranda's making cracks about Jack's increased bust size since the last game and Jack's commenting on Miranda's ass. Shepard has the option of [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] this, by commenting it'd be much easier if they just kissed and got it over with, since their issues with one another ''clearly'' stem from sexual tension; doing so leads to Jack admitting that Miranda has "fantastic tits". |
| 154 | * MemeticBadass: |
| 155 | ** [[http://i.imgur.com/gPvxa.jpg Javik is better than you at anything]]. [[http://i.imgur.com/LPozE.jpg Deal with it, primitive]]. |
| 156 | ** Major Coats from the debut trailer, who spent over 3 days [[FriendlySniper scoping-and-dropping]] husks from Big Ben, all the while half-complaining what the hell was taking Shepard so damn long to show up with the cavalry. |
| 157 | ** Khalisah al-Jilani, hilariously enough. You are given a third opportunity to punch her during the interview, but it requires 2 renegade interrupt prompts. If you failed to input the second one, she'll avoid Shepard's punch and knock them on their ass with an uppercut. This led to a lot of in-jokes of this making ''Khalisah'' the most dangerous woman in the galaxy. This became something of an AscendedMeme by the Citadel DLC, as she is holder of one of the high scores at the Armax Arena, just barely below James Vega. |
| 158 | * MemeticMutation: [[Memes/MassEffect See here.]] |
| 159 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 160 | ** It's virtually guaranteed that by the time you discover [[spoiler: the truth about Sanctuary, if not before,]] you will consider Illusive Man to have gone this way. While [[spoiler: his being indoctrinated may prevent him being wholly responsible for his actions, his character is not changed nearly as much as Benezia's, so it's debatable how much of the blame is the Reapers' and how much is his.]] It's also left ambiguous [[spoiler:as to when exactly he was indoctrinated]]. |
| 161 | ** [[spoiler:Kai Leng crosses it big time when he kills Thane[=/=]Kirrahe[=/=]the Salarian Councillor. This is of course assuming that he didn't cross it in one of the novels.]] |
| 162 | * MorePopularReplacement: Samantha Traynor has been received much better as the ship's Yeoman than Kelly Chambers from the previous game, due to having a more rounded and developed personality, as well as more dialogue in general and a full-fledged romance option. |
| 163 | * {{Narm}}: |
| 164 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBXQVxS-qk STEEEEEEEEVVVEEEEEEE!]] Shepard's emotionless "You're sure?" after learning that Cortez will be okay makes the scene even more awkward. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xcCaw-23LE#t=132 Apparently there were supposed to be multiple versions that depended on Shepard and Steve's relationship, but for some reason they only used the one that was meant for Steve's romance.]] |
| 165 | --->'''Mark Meer:''' So even if it's like you barely know him, and he's fine, it's like "STEEVE! ... You okay?" |
| 166 | ** Shepard's dream sequences may create the dramatic effect they were intended for during the first playthrough, but over time the sight of Shepard's outstretched hand and gaping face in slow motion becomes more and more hilarious. |
| 167 | ** For that matter, the dreams become increasingly more ludicrous the more your Shepard falls into the "renegade" category. Apparently, Shepard isn't bothered by committing all sorts of heinous acts -- which can include genocide, and murdering your own current and former squad members -- over the course of the trilogy, but the death of a young boy who Shepard only spoke to once, very briefly, is just too much to deal with. |
| 168 | ** The death of Urdnot Dagg, who takes Grunt's place for one mission if the latter didn't survive the previous game, is effectively just a slightly BloodierAndGorier copy-paste of the death scene that takes place if Grunt ''did'' survive the previous game, but his loyalty mission wasn't completed. This can make it slightly bewildering as to why the demise of some RedShirt krogan who Shepard has barely even spoken to is getting treated as such a huge DramaBomb moment. |
| 169 | ** When you [[spoiler: open the Citadel to dock the Crucible]] and it fails to work, Admiral Hackett calls you to say that [[spoiler: the Crucible]] is not firing: "It has to be something on your end," interrupting a touching moment with what sounds like a bad joke about tech support. |
| 170 | ** [[spoiler:Shepard's name plate]] in the Extended Cut. Every other ''Normandy'' crewman is listed by their full name on the memorial wall, [[spoiler:with "Adm. David Anderson" being the most recent addition. But all the protagonist gets is "Commander Shepard", no attempt to include their first name or even their name's initials.]] It just looks ridiculously unprofessional in context. |
| 171 | ** Averting this is probably the reason no one actually says the name of his ship when [[spoiler:Zaal'Koris is shot down on Rannoch]]. It's a dramatic scene where he has to be convinced to allow himself to be rescued for the greater good rather than perform a HeroicSacrifice to save his crew, and might have been undercut if anyone had mentioned that his ship was called [[spoiler:the Qwib-Qwib]]. |
| 172 | ** The scene where Rila tries to strangle Falere is supposed to be creepy and horrific, since she's being indoctrinated into becoming a Banshee. The problem that the developers made the scene look funny due to how hard Rila falls over from what looked like a pretty light shove. |
| 173 | * NarmCharm: |
| 174 | ** Aliens often shout out their homeworlds between multiplayer rounds, but the krogan squadmate's "[[LargeHam FORRR TUCHANKAAAA]]" is the one that's stupidly endearing. On the Bioware forums, one parent posted a video of their toddler, who's taken to running around the room while yelling that phrase, after having heard it while their parent was playing multiplayer. D'awww... |
| 175 | ** The same goes with many of the vorcha's statements in multiplayer, especially after one gets revived ("I'M ALIVE!"). |
| 176 | ** You can now play as the volus in multiplayer. Waddling around as an alien half the height of your teammates is either exactly as hilarious as it sounds, [[BewareTheSillyOnes incredibly badass]], or both. |
| 177 | ** The ''Citadel'' DLC seems to be built intentionally around this. |
| 178 | ** Tali's singing, due to her voice filter. [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments But it's adorable.]] |
| 179 | * OneSceneWonder: Outside of descriptions of him by Miranda, Henry Lawson makes his only appearance in the series during the mission on Sanctuary. [[MoralEventHorizon And boy, does he leave]] [[CompleteMonster quite the impression]]. |
| 180 | * PanderingToTheBase: The ''Citadel'' DLC is basically "''Mass Effect'' Fan Service: The Expansion Pack". It's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTKMUbKVyJ4 explicitly]] marketed as this. |
| 181 | * ParanoiaFuel: |
| 182 | ** If Shepard [[spoiler:makes the decision to sabotage the Genophage cure to keep the Salarians on board]] whilst Wrex is still alive, [[spoiler:Wrex finds out what Shepard did shortly afterwards. It's never revealed ''who'' told Wrex - A Salarian who disagreed with the actions of the Dalatrass is the obvious guess]]... But if you take Liara [[spoiler:on the Sur'Kesh mission, she and Wrex will tease one another about the Shadow Broker not being the one leaked the location of the Krogan females]]. Kinda makes you think... |
| 183 | ** If the sabotage is carried out while Wreav is Clan Chief and Mordin survives to go work surreptitiously on the Crucible, Liara's Broker terminal has an email he sends to a colleague about his Crucible work. But if you talk to her right after Tuchanka she says something about Wreav worrying her. Which means she also knows what you did and is playing along. For now. |
| 184 | ** Part of the reason that so many in the fandom embraced the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Indoctrination Theory]] was because the game never actually explains why [[spoiler:the Catalyst appears as the boy from Shepard's nightmares]]. However, the Catalyst is only ever observed from Shepard's perspective so it's possible s/he's perceiving it in [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith the form easiest for him/her to process]]; i.e. the symbol of his/her weakening will to continue fighting in the face of death. |
| 185 | ** All three of the locations visited in ''Leviathan'' are in clusters that were visited during the previous game. One of them is in a system that was visited previously and is explicitly stated to have been in its situation for ten years. What else has Shepard flown by over the course of the series, completely oblivious? [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Kaidan, just in case anyone missed it. |
| 186 | ** [[TheTurretMaster Cerberus Engineers]] have deployed [[TotalPartyKill turrets]] in random places on the Citadel. Sure, you could download turret schematics and give them to C-sec to help clear them out, but in reality finding all these turrets and deactivating them is like searching an area for explosive booby traps - a long hard grind never knowing whether you've truly cleared them all. In the meantime these things are quietly lurking in random places, ready to mow down anyone who gets into their vicinity. |
| 187 | ** If Mordin survived the SuicideMission he goes to Tuchanka and if he doesn't [[HeroicSacrifice publicly die there curing genophage]], [[SenselessSacrifice he dies trying to reach the shroud]] or goes into hiding. But Padok Wiks is left behind on Surkesh and he is just as capable of developing a cure. And unlike Mordin who wants to atone, Padok has deep seated philosophical reasons for curing the genophage. If enough people survived the Destroy ending, one wonders what Padok might get up to. |
| 188 | * PlayerPunch: |
| 189 | ** To the point of it being a Player NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. The game begins with Shepard, grounded from active duty for destroying a mass relay and killing over three hundred thousand thousand batarians. It's made clear s/he has to be sacrificed to avoid war, but if the relay was not destroyed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvzWA7oIbF4&feature=related this]] happens. Then the Reapers invade, and Shepard tries to rescue a little boy, failing to convince his/her mentor to leave Earth, before watching the shuttle the boy who refused his/her help be blown up. Former allies question Shepard because s/he still might be in league with galactic terrorists, said terrorists have declared war on the galaxy and Shepard, the ally Shepard saved at the cost of sacrificing another is very nearly killed, and s/he begins having nightmares of the little boy who died. That's just round one, you're fighting the likes of Cassius Clay and have fourteen more rounds to go. |
| 190 | ** Chances are this is going to be a very long list, but the players have been given one ''before the game has even been released''. [[http://twitter.com/#!/AllianceNewsNet AllianceNewsNetwork]] tweets reveal that [[spoiler:Emily Wong is dead. The fact that it was a ''massive'' DyingMomentOfAwesome makes it only ''slightly'' less painful]]. |
| 191 | ** [[spoiler: Mordin's HeroicSacrifice. KilledMidSentence.]] |
| 192 | ** [[spoiler:The Fall of Thessia. No heroic sacrifice. No bittersweet victory. The homeworld of the most advanced race in the galaxy falls, and there's nothing you could have done to prevent it. Not even Earth or Palaven has been so utterly defeated by the Reaper menace.]] |
| 193 | ** If you miss your chance to save Grissom Academy, you won't ever see Jack [[spoiler:... until the Cerberus station at the end, where you can find a recording (in a blood-spattered room) of her being operated on. This is bad enough... until you go into the next room and have to kill her in her new Phantom form.]] |
| 194 | ** [[spoiler:All of Legion's potential death scenes on Rannoch count. Legion can heartrendingly disseminate his personality in order to make peace between the quarians and the geth. Choosing the quarians over the geth means either you or Tali have to kill Legion after he goes berserk...'' or'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MATpORpJeg#t=35m49s for a Renegade Shepard]], ''you shoot Legion point-blank in the face'' '''[[RuleOfThree three times]]''', '''''[[YouBastard with each bullet done as a]] [[ActionCommand Renegade Interrupt]]]]'''''. |
| 195 | ** [[spoiler:If you screw up the quarian-geth situation ''and'' pick the geth over the quarians, then Tali committing suicide after the entire quarian race is killed because of one moronic Admiral.]] |
| 196 | ** [[spoiler:A Shepard who ended up romancing Kelly in the 2nd game can recieve a one-two punch. Kelly reveals that during the entire time she was with you, she was secretly feeding reports about you and the crew to The Illusive Man. If you yell at her for doing this, you find out later that she committed suicide with Cyanide pills. If you forgive her but don't tell her to change her identity she ends up getting an off screen death after the Cerberus attack. Cerberus shows up at her door and upon confirming her identity unceremoniously executes her with a bullet to the head.]] |
| 197 | ** In the Extended Cut, [[spoiler: there's a brief scene in every ending dedicated to remembering those who sacrificed themselves during the story. At its worst, you can get ''everyone'' with the exception of whoever died on Virmire - this even includes Eve[=/=]Bakara.]] |
| 198 | * PortingDisaster: The Platform/WiiU port, despite having some interesting gamepad features, is easily the worst incarnation of the game due to lousy performance, which is inferior to the other versions at best of times, and can tank to near-unplayable levels during heavy firefights. On top of that, the port missed out on all the DLC except for From Ashes and the Extended Cut endings. Worse still because you can only start the game using the limited choices in the comic provided its impossible to get the [=ME2=] Golden ending choices, this limits the ammount of story possiblities you have access to. Notably you can't have the Normandy crew and most of the suicide team still alive which closes off literally dozens of plots depending on your choices at the start of the game. The Platform/PlayStation3 port was also pretty bad on release with the game almost always hard-freezing during two specific cutscenes and the framerate tanking on some visual-intensive events, but patches eventually bought it up to being about almost as fast as the Platform/Xbox360 version. |
| 199 | * ReplacementScrappy: Diana Allers is this for [[spoiler:Emily Wong fans]]. The accusations of StuntCasting and EveryManHasHisPrice haven't helped, either. |
| 200 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: |
| 201 | ** Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani, provided you take the Paragon interrupt. Or even if you don't, [[spoiler:she can ''knock Shepard out''.]] Later, she does a number of very brave or touching things in the name of the public trust. |
| 202 | ** Udina was seen as this for a lot of people, who did not like his attitude in the first and second game. He's getting the job done, putting in work and generally being useful. [[spoiler:Then you get to [[StressReliefMechanic pop him one]] as he tries to kill the Asari councilor. And he's ''still'' more sympathetic than in the previous two games. He did it for [[TearJerker Earth]].]] |
| 203 | ** Sparatus, the turian councilor, was a ''dick'' in the first two games, but in the third, he's the ''first'' one to help you out after the other two (the supposedly reasonable councilors) decline to help the humans out in the Reaper war. Please note, unlike Thessia and Sur'Kesh, the Reapers are actively sieging Palaven at this point, and most Turians would have declined help. |
| 204 | ** Kaidan has been better received by many fans due to outgrowing his former MasterOfNone status and character development being fleshed out after the attempted Cerberus coup. |
| 205 | ** Miranda gained a lot of fans thanks to [[TookALevelInKindness many levels in kindness]] as well helping out The Alliance behind the scenes. Being the only character in the game who has told Shepard that she will handle her own problems certainly helped. |
| 206 | ** Zaeed was treated as some as being too much of a JerkAss to be likeable. Then his voice actor, the late, great Creator/RobinSachs, passed away. His last role? Zaeed for the ''Citadel'' DLC, which completely turns around the character into a cool, funny JerkWithAHeartOfGold and is responsible for some of the funniest moments of the game. |
| 207 | ** At launch, the Talon Mercenary was one of the worst multiplayer characters in the game - his signature omni-bow was buggy, prone to locking, unwieldy, and didn't do much damage. As a parting gift, the developers awarded the Talon huge attack bonuses in the final balance changes, turning him into a top-tier threat overnight. |
| 208 | ** While Tali was never a Scrappy in terms of her character, she's one of the least used teammates on account of using the least versatile weapon proficiency (ShortRangeShotgun and heavy pistol), a weak combat drone, and an ability that only works on synthetic enemies in a game where at least 3/4 of the enemies you face are organics. Come ''3'', her combat drone gets defense buffs and can even fire ''rockets'', more shielded enemies show up, which makes Energy Drain more useful, and her AI Hacking ability gets retooled to damage organics by overheating their weapons. |
| 209 | ** Admiral Zaal'Koris in the second game was widely hated for being just an asshole to Tali for what seemed like petty reasons. Even though he was uniquely the only admiral to be sympathetic to the geth, his attitude made him widely hated. Then this game came along, showed him with more positive traits, and having him play a huge role in getting peace between the quarian and the geth. Instead of being hated, he became much better received as a character, especially when he makes it clear he would rather his men be saved over himself. |
| 210 | * SalvagedStory: |
| 211 | ** Contrary to Creator/BioWare's claim that the Extended Cut wouldn't change the endings and would only "expand and clarify the current endings", the new endings include numerous changes, most notably that [[spoiler:the Mass Relays are no longer completely destroyed in every ending and the Normandy no longer gets stranded, though this depends on the EMS]]. While the Extended Cut managed to make endings acceptable for a sizable amount of fans, an equal number of them are still unsatisfied, or even downright angrier at the extended explanations, seeing them more as an attempt to HandWave away the issues fans had with the endings, rather than addressing them. |
| 212 | ** The ''Leviathan'' DLC offers much more information about the origins of the Reapers and the Catalyst. |
| 213 | ** The ''Citadel'' DLC gives players more content with Wrex and the rest of the ''Mass Effect 2'' squad, to address complaints that ''[=ME3=]'' and other [=DLC=] largely ignored squad members. It also resolves one of the other major complaints of the original ending which persisted even after the Extended Cut, by giving players a proper chance to say goodbye to their squad. |
| 214 | ** Players who romanced Thane or Jacob in ''Mass Effect 2'' were highly disappointed in how their romances were given the short end of the stick in ''Mass Effect 3'' and essentially [[CuttingOffTheBranches cut out]] (Thane will [[spoiler:die in a HeroicSacrifice]] after only the possibility of a brief rekindling, and Jacob will have met a new woman and breaks up with Shepard). The ''Citadel'' [=DLC=] alleviates this a bit by giving players who romanced Thane [[spoiler:a series of VideoWills]] from him as well as [[spoiler:a vision where he says he will [[TogetherInDeath wait for Shepard on the other side]]]], and players who romanced Jacob will be given the opportunity to have a post-breakup talk with him and potentially bury the hatchet. |
| 215 | ** After three games of build-up, the reveal of Tali's face in ''3'' was seen as massively underwhelming. [[spoiler:Instead of being revealed in a cutscene her face was revealed in a lazily photoshopped stock image of a real-life person obscured by a lens flare and set in an environment that contradicts what's been established about quarians in the lore.]] In the ''Legendary Edition'' remaster [[spoiler:while her face still isn't shown in a cutscene, the picture she gives Shepard shows her in her suit, unmasked, with her face fully rendered in game,]] making it a marked improvement. |
| 216 | ** Bioware received some criticism over the first two games for only including {{Gay Option}}s [[DoubleStandard for women]], and their claim that "[[DiscountLesbians asari don't count]]" only angered their lesbian fans. This game introduced human love interests for gay players of both genders and, foreseeing the criticism they would get if male {{Gay Option}}s were restricted to new characters and [=NPCs=][[note]]a concern that turned out to be prescient after ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' recieved heavy backlash for initially restricting its male {{Gay Option}}s to [=NPCs=][[/note]], gave gay male players the option of a RelationshipUpgrade with a returning male squadmate. |
| 217 | ** The BeastlyBloodsports aspect of [=ME2's=] Varren fighting pit on Tuchanka gets toned down significantly by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjMYWwSx8g0 a background conversation]] in ''Citadel''. Apparently, Varren manage to fight using those massive fangs without actually injuring each other... |
| 218 | * TheScrappy: [[TheScrappy/MassEffect See here.]] |
| 219 | * ScrappyMechanic: |
| 220 | ** Due to almost every action being mapped to the spacebar/A-Button/X-Button, the difference between going into cover, storming, using an item, reviving a squadmate are all mapped to one key. It is quite easy to go into cover when one meant to storm out of the way, or to start reviving a squadmate when one was attempting to leap over a barricade. |
| 221 | ** Basic human husks can now grab you, forcing you to go through a [[PressXToNotDie quick-time event]] to shake them off. This leaves you out in the open, vulnerable to enemy fire. Anyone who's played multiplayer against Reapers knows what this means. |
| 222 | ** Monetary rewards were reasonable in the original game, letting you buy new gear at a good pace. This is unchanged for the ''Legendary Edition'', even though DLC guns and armor that were free after buying their packs now cost money. On its own, this might mean you just need to be a bit more stingy, but the guns available through the Spectre requisitions terminal all have punishingly high prices, rarely below 100k credits, with the N7 Valiant in particular costing ''250k''. This means you need to save up for a ''long'' time if you want to get your hands on just one of them or spend a lot of time grinding in the Armax Arsenal Arena -- itself not available until after beating the ''Citadel'' DLC plotline, which is in turn not available until after the genophage arc. And once you actually buy them, you need to spend ''even more'' time saving/grinding so you can upgrade them. A lot of hassle could've been saved by either giving more money for missions or dropping the price of the N7 gear. |
| 223 | ** The Galactic Readiness system. Throughout the game the player collects War Assets that, when totalled up, represent the forces behind Shepard for the final battle for Earth; however, the total value is also multiplied by the Galactic Readiness rating, which by default is set to 50%, only improves by completing actions outside of the singleplayer like participating in multiplayer matches and interacting with external Mass Effect applications, and decays back to 50% if it isn't maintained regularly. Aside from locking anybody without an Internet connection out of the best possible endings, this also started to lock everyone else out when the additional applications stopped being available. Fortunately, since the ''Legendary Edition'' didn't include the multiplayer, it also did away with Galactic Readiness entirely. |
| 224 | * ScrappyWeapon: Due to the armor damage reduction mechanic (a flat number is subtracted from damage for each shot against armor), fast-firing but low-damage guns are never seen in higher difficulties. Weapons like the Viper and Raptor sniper rifles, all of the [=SMGs=] sans the N7 Hurricane, and the Scimitar shotgun are unlocked and left to collect dust. Heavy-hitting but slow weapons also required less time out of cover to shoot, which further put these pea-shooters away from regular usage. |
| 225 | * SequelDifficultySpike: According to [=BioWare=], this game would be harder than the first two, with "Normal as the new Veteran." True to that statement, there is no longer a Veteran difficulty level; it progresses straight from "Normal" to "Hardcore." |
| 226 | * SidetrackedByTheGoldSaucer: The ''Citadel'' DLC has the Armax Arsenal Arena, the Castle Arcade, and the Silver Coast Casino, as well as an apartment for you to customize. |
| 227 | * SpecialEffectFailure: |
| 228 | ** Aria's speech in the Omega DLC where Aria will frequently and noticeably teleport around the stage and clip through things. |
| 229 | ** During the prologue, if Shepard looks down on the streets below and zooms in, one can easily notice obvious and poorly drawn 2D renders of people running away from explosions. |
| 230 | ** Shepard wielding specific models of pistols and assault rifles during cutscenes, even when the player has neither weapon type equipped, let alone those specific models. |
| 231 | ** Shepard will have some issues drawing his/her gun at the ends of cutscenes if it's not an assault rifle or pistol. |
| 232 | ** Shepard picks up a rock to give to Tali on Rannoch... and it vanishes in the next shot before it can even change hands. |
| 233 | ** During the final non-combat bits of the game, Shepard's pistol sometimes clips through his/her hand. |
| 234 | ** Shepard's finger often clips through his/her head. |
| 235 | ** Shepard's animation rarely grabs onto the bars correctly when climbing up ladders. |
| 236 | ** The electric sparks from the Pistol Melee Stunner mod continue to appear in cutscenes, even when the gun it's attached to isn't rendered. |
| 237 | ** The nightmare sequences are even more [[{{Narm}} difficult to take seriously]] once you notice all the background trees waggling back and in perfect unison. |
| 238 | ** A new one appears in ''Legendary Edition''. The original games ran at 30 frames per second on 7th generation consoles. ''Legendary Edition'' allows 8th gen consoles to run at 4K resolution or 60 FPS; 9th edition consoles and high end [=PCs=] run at 4K, 60 FPS. The issue is that the prerendered cutscenes were rendered at 30 FPS to match the originals' frame rate. But since Commander Shepard's features are determined by the player, any cutscene where Shepard isn't wearing a face-concealing helmet has to be rendered in-engine, using the modern frame rate. This makes sequences like the final mission that cut quickly between prerendered and in-engine shots ''very'' obvious about what's going on, distracting from a lot of the drama. |
| 239 | * TakeThatScrappy: |
| 240 | ** Both the Mako and the Hammerhead come in for some verbal abuse during Vega and Cortez's bickering. [=BioWare=] has given up on vehicle combat entirely in this game, [[spoiler: even when it leaves Shepard dodging Harbinger's blasts ''on foot''. Lucky for them, really; the guys in the tanks died first.]] Originally the game was to include a new ground vehicle, but it was scrapped as a consequence of rushed development. |
| 241 | ** An interesting case with the Extended Cut. [[spoiler: You actually get the option to get a reaction from shooting the Catalyst, something many players wanted the option to do. However, the trope is ultimately averted, as doing so triggers the [[DownerEnding refusal ending]].]] |
| 242 | ** [[spoiler:Breaking Kai Leng's sword and then [[DeathByIrony shanking him]] has become the Renegade version of the "hug Tali" option. That is, ''everyone'' takes it.]] Even before that, [[spoiler: Thane mocks Kai Leng for struggling against a terminally ill Drell]] and in the final boss fight with him, Shepard can call Kai Leng out as a coward for running in their last two meetings, which will royally piss him off. |
| 243 | ** You can slap Jacob for [[spoiler:cheating on you]] in the Citadel DLC. Given Jacob's not well liked even outside of [[spoiler:his infidelity]], someone made a mod where you can slap him during that scene regardless of your relationship. |
| 244 | * ThatOneAttack: Destroyers have a couple of them. The first is a laser that instantly kills Shepard. The second is to stomp on Shepard, causing fatal damage. Fortunately, the latter only occurs during the Tuchanka battle. |
| 245 | * ThatOneBoss: |
| 246 | ** [[spoiler: Marauder Shields]], at least on Insanity. You don't have time to close the distance, so you have to line up your swaying Carnifex for a series of stunlocking headshots in agonizing slow motion. Miss a single time and he one-shots you. The Extended Cut actually drops his shield bar to about a third of what it was. |
| 247 | ** Possessed Praetorians from the ''Retaliation'' DLC are the only enemies in mutliplayer that could rightfully be called bosses. They're ridiculously tough, possessing ''over twice as armor and barriers as a Banshee'', are extremely fast, possess two powerful weapons, and can kill you in a single hit if they get in melee range. |
| 248 | ** The Vanguard [[spoiler:Clone Shepard]] from the ''Citadel'' DLC is like Tela Vasir from the previous game, only worse. Imagine everything that made fighting Vasir a nightmare -- tons of health, powerful biotic attacks, being able to biotically charge around the battlefield -- and then add in the ability to stun-lock Shepard and then bombard them non-stop with Nova until they die. The other [[spoiler:Clone Shepard]] classes are pretty difficult as well,[[note]](The Adept and Sentinel versions spam you with Warp, which causes serious damage and slows your shield/barrier recharge; the Infiltrator version can, and usually ''will'' spend the entire fight cloaked, making it hard to draw a bead on them; and the Soldier version loves to spam grenades in order to flush you out of cover before blasting you with Carnage. The Engineer version is the major exception -- at most, it's a GoddamnedBoss on higher difficulties, and an outright AnticlimaxBoss on lower difficulties -- as all you have to worry about is Incinerate, which is both less damaging and much more easily dodged than Warp, and its Defense Drone, which can be somewhat annoying but is easily destroyed with Overload)[[/note]] but the Vanguard version is just ridiculous, especially on Hardcore or Insanity. |
| 249 | * ThatOneLevel: |
| 250 | ** ''Any'' match on [[HarderThanHard Platinum difficulty]] in multiplayer. |
| 251 | ** The final mission. This makes sense, but the fact that the final area is just ''filled'' with enemies that can kill you in two hits (2 Banshees with assorted infantry support; 6 Brutes ''at once'', joined later by a Harvester ''and a Reaper with a WaveMotionGun'') leads to a ''lot'' of Game Overs, because the margin for error is approximately zero. If it's any consolation, the cutscene can be triggered any time after the button appears as an objective. Which is necessary, since there is an infinite supply of high level enemies. Tricking the Reaper into killing its own troops with the gun is probably the best way to get through on lower difficulties. |
| 252 | ** The ''second'' part of it is, in some ways, even worse. While you only have to fight three Husks and one Marauder, you have to do so while staggering around, a horrible speed to move at, with awful aim and your opponents need two hits at most to kill you. Regardless of difficulty setting, you'll probably need multiple frustrating tries. |
| 253 | ** Grissom Academy. Tons of Cerberus Guardians, Atlas mechs, turrets and shield pylons; enemies spawn quickly and it's too early in the game to have the gear and squad members that makes them easy to counter. Virtually every room you walk into features Shepard in the open and surrounded by enemies in cover, but that ''fucking'' atrium takes the cake. It's ''almost'' made up for by the free Atlas you get later in the level. [[spoiler: What's worse is that this, like most, is a "timed" mission, meaning that players cannot simply bulk up and try it later. And failure to beat it gives a fan favorite character a truly horrific ending.]] |
| 254 | ** At the end of the mission where Shepard defends [[spoiler:the Citadel]] from Cerberus, there's a long, narrow corridor where the player is forced to take on two Nemesis snipers and two Phantoms at once (plus several Assault Trooper grunts). On Legendary, the ranged attacks of the snipers or Phantoms will down Shepard in two hits, while the Troopers spam grenades and the Phantoms move to flank to ensure camping in cover isn't an option. Depending on Shepard's class, the only way to survive is to immediately retreat far back enough that the enemies can be picked off one or two at a time, as their pathfinding AI struggles to navigate the area. |
| 255 | ** The friggin' Geth Dreadnought. Midway through the mission you're in a section where a shockwave regularly blasts out every 5-10 seconds and drains your shields away and the only way to not get hurt is to take cover, only sometimes even if you are you'll still get hurt, and half the time if firing even behind cover you'll still take damage from it since the game can't decide whether it counts if you're still in cover or not. Couple that with the fact that the are dozens of Geth in this section meaning they'll have no problem getting up to where you are, allowing them to completely overwhelm you. You will definitely have to replay this nightmare multiple times. |
| 256 | ** The Geth fighters squadrons mission on Rannoch, which boils down to you wandering around a virtual landscape, listening to a series of {{Info Dump}}s on the history of the quarian-Geth conflict. The mission as a whole is incredibly tedious, tells you little that you won't have learned or inferred before, the level design makes it easy to unwittingly backtrack on yourself, and the bits where you have to use a "code gun" to unveil said Info Dumps rapidly grow repetitive -- and that's ''before'' the game decides to make it even more complicated to reveal them. For fans who appreciated Bioware's mostly dropping the non-combat missions from this game (in fact, if you don't have the ''Leviathan'' or ''Citadel'' DLC packs installed, this is the only such mission in the game), the mission is Exhibit A as to why that was the right decision. |
| 257 | ** The Afterlife fight in the Omega DLC, a timed battle in which you have to deal with multiple adjutants, while you move from corner to corner, trying to free Aria. No squadmates either, [[spoiler:Nyreen is dead and Aria is captured]], you are on you own until you free her to mop up the rest of Cerberus. |
| 258 | ** The ''Citadel'' DLC adds a few fun ones. First, there's the boss battle against [[spoiler:Clone Shepard and Maya Brooks]] which can be a pain depending on which class you and [[spoiler:your clone are. Vanguards get spammed with Nova]]. Then there are the Combat Simulator fights, especially the Mirror Match [[spoiler:against Shepard Clones]] and the Fatal Error match, all waves of which have to be won without checkpoints or a chance to save. |
| 259 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: |
| 260 | ** The initially released image of the redesign of Ashley Williams quickly fell under this; with an Ashley who wears her hair down, dresses a more form-fitting attire, and seemingly has a boob job, something which quite a few fans felt was an attempt at [[SexSells upping her sex appeal]] at the cost of sacrificing some of her characterization as a serious-minded soldier. |
| 261 | ** Omnitools being used as a knife has been met with divided opinions, with those who think there's no logical reason for the omniblade to work as a knife (ignoring the fact that it has been used both as a melee weapon and a shield before in the game), or that it doesn't fit in with the aesthetic of ''Mass Effect''. |
| 262 | ** Use of a lot more auto-dialogue is considered as horrible changes to the game by many fans. |
| 263 | ** Shockwave underwent a huge change from ''2'' to ''3''. In ''2'', it traveled along the ground and was an Area of Effect power that hurled and damaged anyone in the vicinity. In ''3'', it became basically a cascading series of throws traveling in a straight line. As a result it lost its area of effect and unless your enemies are perfectly aligned and stay that way, your Shockwave will [[EpicFail harmlessly fly right by them]]. |
| 264 | ** The aiming reticle for all weapons underwent a major change. In the first two games, the reticle was clearly visible without you having to press the Aim button. The reticle became more accurate, sure, but you could still clearly see it and aim while normally firing. In this game, the reticle is a barely noticeable little circle, which in some situations makes it almost invisible. So, in order to shoot accurately you must Aim. Which on PC games can be a tad bit Carpal Tunnel inducing. |
| 265 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: |
| 266 | ** Harbinger, the BigBad of ''Mass Effect 2'' and the apparent leader of the Reaper invasion gets DemotedToExtra here. The ending of the second game seemed to be hyping him up as one of Shepard's main nemeses, but he remains offscreen for the vast majority of the third game. When he finally does show up, it's only for one scene and he doesn't even have a single line despite how vocal he was in the previous installment. [[spoiler:There's never a mission to destroy him, or a [[TheUnfought boss fight]] against a puppet he controls like with Sovereign in the first game, and if the Destroy Ending is taken, he doesn't even die onscreen.]] |
| 267 | ** Depending on your choices, during a brief side quest, you run into Balak, the ArcVillain of the first game's ''Bring Down the Sky'' DLC. He only shows up for a few minutes and is either dispatched at the end of his conversation or convinced to lend the batarian fleets to the cause. We never hear from him again afterward. |
| 268 | ** None of the squadmates introduced in the previous game get to rejoin your crew. A few still have prominent roles regardless and all of them get resolution to their stories, but it's still a shame none can stick around throughout your journey. The ''Citadel'' DLC improved things a bit in regards to this point. |
| 269 | *** The worst example is Morinth. While every other surviving squadmate from ''2'' either plays a role in the main plot or has a sidequest where they're given focus, Morinth never makes an appearance, not even in the mission where Samara--[[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers whom she replaces if recruited]]--shows up. You only hear about her through emails [[spoiler:and she's only seen onscreen after she's been transformed into a Banshee in the final mission with nothing but her name to distinguish her from any other Banshee. It's not even clear if Shepard knows it's her.]] |
| 270 | ** EnsembleDarkhorse Kal'Reegar only appears in a single email stating they were KilledOffscreen. Considering how beloved the character is, it feels like a waste. The same can be said about Emily Wong who, despite being a journalist with an already established working relationship with Shepard (as opposed to Diana Allers), is killed in the promotional material for the game. |
| 271 | ** Gianna Parasini's a complete no-show in ''3'', which can be a bit disappointing for some people who were hoping that helping her out in ''1'' and ''2'' would lead to her becoming a more permanent ally or potential romance option. |
| 272 | ** The Virmire Survivor is an odd example of a wasted character, as they spend the early parts of the game PutOnABus recovering from their injuries from an early game mission, and are then saddled with taking a more antagonistic role. Even after officially joining the team, they take a more passive role in the story [[spoiler: due to their ability to be killed or rejected from rejoining]]. This is especially noteworthy since back in the first game, you can actually challenge their views [[TookALevelInKindness making Ashley more open-minded and accepting of aliens]] or [[TookALevelInCynic making Kaidan more cynical and distrusting of the council races]] and neither aspect gets acknowledged in their characterization going forward. |
| 273 | ** Nyreen Kandros from the Omega DLC. In addition to being the first female Turian seen on-screen in the series and a very useful squadmate in her own right, she makes for an interesting contrast to Aria T'Loak, with the story seemingly building up to the choice of whether to [[spoiler:leave control of Omega in the hands of Aria, who is a BadBoss with a WeHaveReserves attitude but also prepared to do whatever it takes to help fight the Reapers, or hand the station over to Nyreen, who has a far more benevolent attitude, but is less conditioned to the horrors of war than Aria]]. Instead, Nyreen gets taken out of your squad for the final quarter of the mission, and is then [[spoiler:killed off just before the final boss battle, with the actual final choice of the mission revolving around General Petrovsky's fate]]. |
| 274 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 275 | ** The Arrival DLC from ''2'' made a big deal about the backlash Shepard's actions caused, including a potential war with the batarians over an entire system being destroyed to stop the Reapers. As interesting as this was presented and given importance, because the Reapers attack and take out the batarians government and home in one fell swoop, this plot point is basically only referenced a few times, and only serves as a reason for Shepard to be grounded on earth. Worse, if you never did the Arrival DLC, Shepard is still grounded on Earth, so it doesn't even outright impact the game beyond adjust lines of dialogue. |
| 276 | ** Saving or destroying the Collector Base in ''Mass Effect 2''. Given that this is the final decision you make in the main game, and everyone has some pretty condemning things to say if you choose to save the base and give it to the Illusive Man, and lauds your decision if you destroy it, it seems like it should have some pretty big ramifications in the third game. But it doesn't. Cerberus manage to recover and abuse Reaper tech, and even most of the Human-Reaper larva, no matter whether you destroy the base or not. The only difference it makes is in which ending you are forced to choose if you have a very low EMS score. |
| 277 | ** Some fans' opinion on the Omega DLC. Specifically, that the DLC focuses more on combat than on character interaction, especially as it reuses Aria T'Loak and introduces a new, exclusive party member in the form of a female turian, and the player cannot return to Omega after the DLC is finished. |
| 278 | ** The Rachni subplot. After two games of build-up and tantalizing hints of what role they'd play in the final installment, the Rachni Queen only appears once in the entire game. After being captured by the Reapers and freed by Shepard, instead of contributing fleets to the war effort like she promised she would in ''Mass Effect 2'', instead she just sends an arbitrary number of workers to help work on the Crucible. You then never see her nor her children again. [[spoiler:The same thing happens if you killed the Queen in the first game, only now it's a cloned Rachni Queen who has been indoctrinated by the Reapers and who will kill a large number of Crucible workers if you free her from the Reapers' grasp]]. |
| 279 | ** [[spoiler:You have the Catalyst, an AI that was created to facilitate communication between organics and synthetics, but something went wrong with its original programming, resulting in it deciding that conflict is inevitable, and that therefore the only option is to destroy its creators, thereby coming to embody the very problem it was trying to prevent, and now it has been stuck carrying out an extremely perverted and twisted version of its prime directive for millions of years. It could actually be a pretty interesting, if archetypal, Sci-Fi story in and of itself to explore, and play into exactly the kind of cyclical structure of past generations' mistakes coming back to haunt future generations the game seemed to be trying to create. The problem is that all of it is awkwardly dumped on the player literally in the last 10 minutes of the game (though the Leviathan DLC addresses the problem a little bit) and it is never actually explored as the player is not allowed an option, even in the Refuse ending, to actually discuss the logic (or the lack there of) in its actions.]] |
| 280 | * UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: |
| 281 | ** [[spoiler:The Catalyst]] is clearly meant to be a WellIntentionedExtremist AntiVillain -- both in presentation and by creator admission. But his logic is flimsy at best and hypocritical at worst. But what especially seems to rub many players the wrong way is that, [[spoiler:there is no real way to confront him with or hold him to task for the many, many, ''many'' geocides he has committed throughout his existence nor the flaws in his logic (at least in the original version, the Extended Cut changes the latter somewhat -- though some argue it still doesn't actually address the problem, as all it does is making the Catalyst attempt to side-step the issue with what is basically a naked AppealToInherentNature). Shepard, and thereby the player, is offered no real choice but to cooperate with what is by all metrics quite possibly the worst mass murderer in all of existence, and the narrative never really acknowledges this. Even the Destroy ending has Shepard implementing one of the Calalyst's suggested solutions, thereby implicity agreeing with his worldview, and the Reject ending is merely Shepard stating that he/she feels that he/she cannot morally do something that would affect so many people, while also never putting forward any rebuke or condemnation of the Catalyst's worldview or logic]]. |
| 282 | ** Provided that she survived the events of the first game, Tevos becomes this in the third game. While presented as the "good" councilor, her actions here make her look like a colossal hypocrite. While refusing to send help to Earth to fight the Reapers could be seen as cold pragmatism to defend her own people, the fact that she ignored Shepard's warnings about the Reaper threat throughout the two previous games has left all species unprepared for the current Reaper attack. On top of that, it was revealed that she and the asari government have a prothean beacon on Thessia, which contained information about the Reapers but was hidden from the galactic community to ensure asari superiority, in violation of their own laws. All together, this means that Tevos actually had the means to find out about the Reaper invasion and prepare, yet she did nothing. Yet, no matter what, Shepard is forced to feel sorry for her when the Reapers cause the fall of Thessia, even though that, as well as the all the deaths caused by the Reapers in this cycle, was only possible through her inaction. No wonder Javik was baffled when he realized Shepard had seen the Beacen already. |
| 283 | ** Klencory, an uncharted world introduced in the first game, was mentioned to have archeological digs performed on the surface by eccentric Volus billionaire Kumun Shol. He claimed a vision from a "higher being" told him to look for ancient crypts of "[[EnergyBeings beings of light]]" created at the "dawn of time" to protect organic life from "[[MechanicalAbomination machine devils]]". Come Mass Effect 3 and this isn't brought up at all, except that the planet's description has been updated to say that Kumun Shol may have had a point and his mercenary army is dug in for any Husk assault, but in all likelihood the Reapers will just destroy his base from orbit. Nobody ever suggests going to Klencory to see if there's something to the vision Shol received. |
| 284 | * VindicatedByHistory: |
| 285 | ** The Quarian/Geth Peace decision has become this to an extant, especially by the time the ''Legendary Edition'' released. When ''3'' first came out, brokering a peace between the quarians and the geth was a major case of GuideDangIt that required so many specific predetermined hoops for the player to have jumped through in both ''2'' & ''3'' that some felt it was just not worth it. However, as time went on, and especially when it became more commonly known ''how'' to broker peace between the two races, many players began to see it as one of the most satisfying payoffs in the entire trilogy, especially since it allows them to avoid a SadisticChoice and save both races. It also helps that it later turned out that the requirements to broker peace are actually not ''that'' difficult to accomplish, especially if the player knows what they're doing. Nowadays, ''most'' players, particularly those who play on the ''Legendary Edition'', see it as one of the best [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] [[GoldenPath Golden Paths]] in the entire ''Mass Effect'' series, with some polls stating that 80% choose to save both the geth and the quarians |
| 286 | ** To some degree, the Control ending. While still not well liked as much as Destroy, over the years support for the Control ending grew enough for a not insignificant amount of people to cease negatively comparing it to the Synthesis ending. Part of this is the fact that the only reason most people initially hated it was its association with Cerberus and The Illusive Man's evil motive, naturally disinclining many fans from liking it. Others grew to realize that much .of the nay-saying from other fans about Shepard becoming a Reaper Overlord eventually due to a "Power Corrupts" belief was unsubstantiated by the actual plot of 3 or ending of Control. In fact, Control being the only ending that doesn't have the potential to make any player choices irrelevant[[note]]The Geth and EDI die in Destroy, making any choice related to their happiness or survival pointless. Synthesis cures the Genophage even if you made sure it couldn't be throughout the trilogy[[/note]] is noted as the best thing about it. |
| 287 | ** Those who only played ''Mass Effect 3'' as part of the ''Legendary Edition'' re-release reported a more enjoyable narrative experience, since the heavily LootBoxes-based multiplayer no longer factored disproportionately towards war assets, resulting in players' narrative choices made throughout the trilogy having a meaningful impact on late-game events. |
| 288 | ** The multiplayer aspect of the game was considered a strange move by fans, and it was criticized heavily for the impact it had on the story through War Assets, and the use of LootBoxes as part of progression, given that it was one of the first major games to have them, and caused so many issues down the line. Some especially felt that it detracted from the game, and felt incredibly tacted on for no reason other then to follow current trends. Though the Loot Box element has remained rightfully criticized, as the years went on and the game's content cycle ended, the multiplayer aspect began to be more warmly received as players found it to be a fun use of the games mechanics. Nowadays, many praise the multiplayer as being a well thought out part of the game due to the many unique characters and builds the player can make, as while the loot box aspect is bad, it isn't as bad as many newer games, and the player can progress without needing to spend a single dollar. When the ''Legendary Edition'' revealed it was going to be removed entirely, some were actually upset that it wasn't being brought back with updated visuals or mechanics like the base game. In a telling move, the multiplayer servers remain quite active and populated even ten years later, even on the console versions of the game. |
| 289 | * {{Wangst}}: Liara can come across as this during "Priority: Thessia". Its understandable she would be devastated seeing her home world being torn apart by the Reapers, and feeling helpless to stop it, but she spends almost every part of it whining about how upset the situation makes her, or how much she wants to save it in a "Come on Shepard, we HAVE to save Thessia" way. By the time you get to the final section, she's basically been crying over Thessia's situation the entire mission except for when you try to find the Prothean artifacts in the temple, which can come across as annoying. This wouldn't be a problem if it was more common from party members, but none of the other party members act in such a way during any of the missions involving their home worlds, with the closest being Tali if you let the quarians die for valid reasons at that point. The result is Liara coming across as overly whiny and angsty about her home planet and the destruction happening compared to ''everyone else'' having similar events happen, but doing their best to remain strong during all of it. |
| 290 | * WinBackTheCrowd: |
| 291 | ** The Extended Cut DLC is intended to at least mitigate the negative reaction to the original endings. Reactions have been mixed, though considering the [[BrokenBase state]] of the fandom at the best of times, this is hardly surprising. While many of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu731UtTFqo polls]] still show that at least half of the fanbase is not satisfied, it's still an improvement from the reaction to the base endings which had only 8% of approval. |
| 292 | ** Reactions to the ''Citadel'' DLC have been much more positive. While some of this can indeed be attributed to successfully PanderingToTheBase, it's undeniable that it was also something of a Redemption Gambit, since notwithstanding its lighthearted tone it is better crafted than the main game in almost every regard. |
| 293 | * WTHCostumingDepartment: When the “Earth” multiplayer expansion added a collection of new N7 character types, complete with brand new N7 armor sets to be wear, a portion of the fans began asking [=BioWare=] to make the suits available to Shepherd. They eventually made a few of them available through the Alternate Appearance Pack and ''Citadel'' DLC, albeit in ''Cerberus'' colors - when Cerberus are one of the main villains of the game. |
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