* [[Franchise/MassEffect Main Page]]

The rest of the list to be found here:

* MassEffect/TropesAToD
* MassEffect/TropesEToH
* MassEffect/TropesIToL
* MassEffect/TropesMToP
* MassEffect/TropesQToT

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:U]]
* UndyingLoyalty:
** The true geth. No matter how badly they were treated by the quarians, even to the point of genocide, they still value them as parents. Given the chance, the geth repay the quarians [[spoiler: in a big way, even restoring their immune systems and caretaking their world]]. There's a certain amount of pain from Legion when he ponders what else the geth could do when their own beloved creators wanted to destroy them.
** [[AvertedTrope Averted]] [[JustifiedTrope tragically]] when the geth find themselves [[spoiler:getting owned by the quarians after Admiral Xen invents a weapon that works as a win button, and their only chance for survival is to ally with the Reapers]]. Legion is visibly ashamed at this reaction by his people.
** Shepard can inspire this to varying degrees in their crew, but is almost always shown this by Joker, Chakwas, Garrus, and Liara.
** Shepard themself has this towards Anderson.
* UnexplainedRecovery: The former trope name (I Got Better) is invoked by the Commander in the second game.
--> '''Nassana Dantius:''' Commander Shepard? But... you're dead!\\
'''Shepard:''' [[InvokedTrope I got better.]]
* UnholyNuke:
** When possessing a puppet, the Reaper Harbinger has a special version of of the "Warp" ability that qualifies.
** An ability also possessed by Banshees in the third game.
** As of the last multiplayer DLC, the playable Collector has this same ability.
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: In all three games there are dangerous spots where your character can cross some invisible boundary and become unable to go back, forever hanging in mid-air. In ''2'' there are such spots on the MSV Estevanico and Alchera, in ''3'' there is a particularly nasty spot on the ''Normandy'''s bridge.
* {{Unobtanium}}: [[MinovskyPhysics Element zero]] is [[AllThereInTheManual stated in the Codex]] to be generated only when [[StarKilling stars go boom]]. The primary sources of eezo are, thus, the debris fields surrounding neutron stars and black holes, requiring extensive set-up costs for the telerobotic systems and radiation shielding necessary to mine it. It is also the ''only'' means of [[ArtificialGravity manipulating mass]] known. It is thus the rarest and most valuable substance in the galaxy. However, ''every'' {{FTL}} craft, ''every'' FlyingCar, ''every'' [[MagicTool omni-tool]] and ''every'' firearm (not to mention every ''[[PsychicPowers biotic]]'') has a few grams somewhere inside of it. Not to mention, two words: eezo toothbrushes.
** Luckily, not all that delicious Unobtanium ''stays'' in such harsh places. Good-sized chunks are often caught in the orbits of younger stars, where it can be mined much more easily; [[WretchedHive Omega Station]] was the result of one such mine. And the galaxy seems to be filled with {{Ghost Planet}}s which gathered the material for their own use, meaning {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s can make a cute credit or so doing a little GraveRobbing. [[spoiler:This probably destroyed most remaining evidence of [[EldritchAbomination The Reapers]] in the process]]. One could assume that this is the case for ''all'' Mass Effect technology; why would a centuries-old galaxy-spanning civilization that uses the stuff extensively ''ever'' [[NoRecycling throw any of it away]]?
* UnreliableExpositor: The Codex is sometimes this, as only what is officially known and admitted is written there. In most cases the information given in the Codex is true, but in a few cases it is not, such as [[spoiler:that the Citadel and the mass relays are built by the Protheans instead of the Reapers]]. Finally averted in the third game, as the Reapers make themselves known, and how.
* UnroboticReveal: PlayedForHorror. The Reapers are initially portrayed as incredibly powerful and ancient sentient spaceships. Then we find out how Reapers are created: millions of people taken from the dominant race during a Reaper Cycle are ''liquefied'' into technorganic slurry that is fed to a Reaper superstructure. Worse, it's implied that the minds of the victims live on inside the Reaper and act as a MindHive. When Sovereign claimed that each Reaper was a nation, he wasn't kidding.
* UntranslatedCatchPhrase: The Quarians and "Keelah se'lai" (or just "keelah"). It's explained in one resolution of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' to mean "By the homeworld I hope to one day see", and is used in many of the same contexts as "oh my god".
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight:
** Not only doesn't a trio of heavily armored and armed to the teeth soldiers turn any heads, you can discharge an automatic weapon right in the middle of the seat of the galactic government and onlookers won't even interrupt their conversation.
** You can also take [[spoiler:a geth]] with you to the Citadel, or a turian or salarian to Tuchanka, without even a pause from the locals.
** Averted however if you take [[spoiler:Legion the Geth Infiltrator]] with you to the quarian Flotilla. They ''will'' have something to say about it. Also becomes somewhat ironic, given the circumstances behind you being there in the first place.
* UpdatedRerelease: The ''Legendary Edition'' remasters and tweaks the original trilogy for enhanced performance and gameplay on 2021-era gaming hardware.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V]]
* VerticalMechaFins: The Geth Destroyer family of mooks sport these.
* ViciousCycle: The Reapers [[spoiler:wipe out all sapient organic life in the galaxy at least [[RegularlyScheduledEvil every fifty thousand years or so]]. They state that this cycle has repeated itself more times than humans can possibly imagine. So, let's just give you a brief picture: there is hard evidence that the Reapers are more than ''a billion years old''. Not simple enough for you? Then here's the lowdown: this means that the Reapers have invaded at least ''TWENTY THOUSAND TIMES''. It's not even the first time that someone tried to fight the Reapers, only to be defeated. And their purpose is to prevent yet another vicious cycle (i.e. technological singularity) from wiping out organic life full-stop]].
* VictoryByEndurance: According to the Codex, this is humanity's main method of fighting. Humanity attacks the enemy's supplies, headquarters and resources foremost, leaving enemy forces leaderless with less logistical support until the human fleets can curb stomp them. Humanity's approach to warfare is based on rapid reaction forces which seek to decapitate command and control and avoid attrition while remaining highly manoeuvrable. ''Franchise/MassEffect'''s codices basically have humanity fighting [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_generation_warfare Third and Fourth generation warfare]] [[RecycledInSpace ...in SPACE!]] The rest of the galaxy has barely managed to catch up to human innovations in strategic thought from about the time of the biplanes. Turians still fight massive wars of attrition. Humanity is always shown as being simply more tactically proficient than everyone else to the point of actually subtly paralleling Earth history. As the turians and everyone else build dreadnoughts, humans realize carriers are the future and make many of them. Humans have the first ship able to use "stealth." It bears a striking resemblance to a submarine. [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Sound familiar?]] The turians may as well call their military groups Legions for how [[AncientGrome "groman"]] they are. Salarians don't have the endurance that human forces have and the asari are still fielding armies of light infantry from city-states. Krogan are shown to be poor strategists for a race of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy proud warrior race guys]].
* VideoGameCaringPotential: The Paragon choices give you a choice to make a lot of lives in the galaxy better.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential:
** Over the course of the trilogy, Shepard can ensure the genocide of the following races: Geth, Quarian, Krogan, Hanar, Drell, and Rachni. [[spoiler: You have to choose between the geth and the quarians, but if you choose the geth and then the Destroy ending you will eliminate both.]]
** VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: In the third game, you ''will'' have to answer for the important Renegade choices you may have previously made, and cumulatively, will have an adverse effect on the eventual outcome of some of the endings you choose. Even within the game, neglecting to do some side missions will have certain consequences as well, one of the worst being having to face your former squadmate as an enemy.
* ViewerFriendlyInterface:
** All computer screens featured in the series, as well as the loading screens from the second game, generally play this trope very straight. Most of the things listed at the trope's page - DNA helix animations on medical computers, random numbers, large fonts, and a HackingMinigame featuring illegible bits of code - are there.
** Also the Virtual Intelligences, humanoid computer programs. Bioware most likely added them so the player could interact with electronics without a bunch of reading involved.
* TheVillainMustBePunished: Most {{Loyalty Mission}}s invoke this trope, as the entire point of them is that there is some sort of unresolved issue that is preventing a squadmate from focusing entirely on the mission, such as a loved one that needs help, an old nemesis that needs to be dealt with...or both. Of special note is Garrus, whose {{Loyalty Mission}}s in both ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect 1]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]]'' involve bringing to justice a criminal whom Garrus utterly despises. In both cases, however, the Paragon option is to prevent Garrus from killing the perp (and in the latter case, said perp [[spoiler:has already had a HeelFaceTurn and promises to make amends, which he does in the third game]]).
* VillainOverride: First seen in the original game when [[spoiler:Sovereign turned Saren's corpse into a super-Husk]]. Extremely prominent in the second game, to the point of giving the trope's page quote, with Harbinger and the Collectors, and one of the most infamous {{Interrupting Meme}}s in recent memory.
** Inverted when [[spoiler:after failing its appointed task, the Reaper Harbinger ''releases'' control of the Collector General, leaving it to its fate]].
* VirtualGhost:
** The quarians used to do this, although it was to preserve the knowledge of their ancestors and not to become immortal. They stopped once the geth conquered their homeworld and destroyed the databanks containing them.
** [[spoiler:The Protheans]] are particularly fond of this trope.
** According to Cerberus News, a ship containing a one-billion-strong race of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin virtual aliens]] has made contact with Council space after travelling the galaxy for 8000 years after uploading their minds to a virtual world to save their civilisation from destruction.
* TheVirus: Again, two to four varieties, depending on your personal criteria.
* VowOfCelibacy: Asari with the Ardat-Yakshi genetic ailment are compelled to live in celibate isolation in monasteries. For Asari, sex involves a connection between nervous systems, but the Ardat-Yakshi have a genetic condition which causes this connection to be dangerous and possibly fatal for the other partner - to protect people from this, Ardat-Yakshi are subjected to monastic celibacy whether they like it or not. Morinth in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' is decidedly in the "not" category, and is essentially a sex vampire.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:W]]
* WalkingArmory: Prevalent in all games to various extents.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' not only allows but actually forces each and every squad member to carry the full complement of guns, consisting of an assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a shotgun and a heavy pistol, so just about everybody counts. This includes party members like Liara who have no weapons proficiency whatsoever and won't hit the broadside of a barn with anything other than a good pistol.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' tones it down to two guns per squad member (types depending on the character) but still gives Shepard access to four guns at the very least: a heavy pistol, a submachine gun, a sniper rifle (Infiltrator) or shotgun (Vanguard), and a heavy weapon of choice. Soldiers replace the submachine gun with an assault rifle and get to wield all the other weapon classes on top of it, lugging around five guns in total.
** Last but not least, ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' keeps the two-guns-per-squad-member mechanic but removes any restriction on Shepard themselves. Since heavy weapons are now a separate non-standard class that can only be used in the mission they're found in, the number of available slots is fixed at five - heavy pistol, submachine gun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun. The new weight-based cooldown system ensures that most classes will rarely carry more than one or two weapons into battle, but anyone unconcerned with frequent power usage (first and foremost the Soldier class, naturally) is perfectly free to fill all five slots with the meanest {{BFG}}s they can find, thus playing this trope as straight as it gets once more. Additionally, all classes (regardless of whether they actually use it in gameplay or not) are now equipped with an omni-blade for heavy melee attacks, so the sum total of weapons Shepard can bring to the table is six.
* TheWarJustBefore: Humanity has two of these.
** The First Contact War of 2157 against turians and the Skyllian Blitz of 2176 (against batarians). The first game is set in 2183, so the memories of the First Contact War are still fresh: humans are viewed as aggressive, but [[HumansAreWarriors surprisingly efficient]] upstarts, and tensions between humans and turians are still high, especially since the veterans of that war (such as David Anderson and Steven Hackett) now occupy many command positions.
** The Skyllian Blitz is even fresher in memory, as even Commander Shepard (the trilogy protagonist) is a veteran of that campaign (in two our of three [[MultipleChoicePast possible backgrounds]]), and humans are still not on speaking terms with batarians.
* WeAreAsMayflies: Both the krogan and the asari live for about a thousand years, whereas humans in the 22nd century are lucky to live to one hundred and fifty. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with the salarians who live to be about 40. The vorcha, introduced in ''Mass Effect 2'', have a lifespan of only 20 years.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: More subtle than most instances. This is what most turians do; that's actually what their face-paint is.
--> "''...the turian term "barefaced" refers to one who is beguiling or not to be trusted. It is also a [[TakeThat slang term for politicians]]..''"\\
--'''Codex entry on turians'''
* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: If Shepard or Ryder is KO'd during a battle, you get the Game Over screen (unlike their teammates, who automatically recover after the fight ends if they were KO'd, even if the Unity ability isn't used).
** This trope is acknowledged if you get the worst ending of the [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 second game]]. Joker also mentions it early on as the reason the team broke up after Shepard was killed -- they were ''[[MagneticHero Shepard's]]'' team. Without them, there was no reason for them to stay together.
* WeDoTheImpossible: The crews of either ''Normandy''.
--> '''Thane:''' Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega-4 relay. No ship has ever returned from doing so.\\
'''Shepard:''' They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos, too.\\
'''Thane:''' A fair point. You've built a career on performing the impossible.
* WelcomeToCorneria: Typical Creator/BioWare approach. [=NPCs=] usually answer the same thing whenever you ask (for convenience). Subverted by/averted by some random [=NPCs=].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Cerberus organization, at least if you're human. Except if you're a biotic, or any particular individual, as the survival of the species overrides anything else (ethics, human decency, etc).
** At the end of [=ME3=] we learn this of [[spoiler:the Reapers. They were created long, long, ''long'' ago by the Leviathans, aimed to end the chaos that would end their thrall races. Not the chaos of organic evolution as implied earlier, but the chaotic destruction of organic life by synthetic life, as the Leviathan's thrall races would create synthetics to help them which in turn would wipe that race out. So when organic civilizations become advanced enough to create synthetics that begin to rise against them, the Reapers come in, immortalize the advanced civilizations as new Reapers, and destroy all civilization, then retreat to deep space to wait for it to happen again]].
* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Medical science advancements have extended the human life expectancy to around 150 years. Some people still get diseases though. Such as your pilot, Joker, who has a rare medical condition that makes his bones really brittle. Though even that technology is advanced, since Joker said if he was born during our time, he would've died as an infant.
* WeWillUseLasersInTheFuture: Due to the fact that mass accelerator technology is the backbone of most weapons in the galaxy, most defenses are designed around blocking kinetic weapons. The rare directed energy weapons, then, are game-breaking, fluff-wise.[[note]][[GameplayAndStorySegregation Not true during gameplay for balance reasons.]][[/note]] GARDIAN lasers are [[SeeTheWhitesOfTheirEyes short-ranged by space combat standards]] but devastating at knife-fight range, and the kinetic barriers of the ''Normandy'' SR-1 had zero effect against the beam weapon mounted on the Collector cruiser.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: The second game really ratchets the visual quality of all the character eyes. Miranda and Doctor Chakwas are two of the prettier examples.
** Default male Shepard has striking blue eyes while on the flip side, the default female Shepard has bright green eyes...[[RedEyesTakeWarning unless you go renegade.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Depending on your choices there can be several such moments, but Shep gets most thoroughly called out by Anderson in the end of the first game if [[spoiler: they claim that they intentionally let the council die to weaken the other races and advance humanity.]]
** In [=ME1=] you have the opportunity to save a soldier who lost his squad to a thresher maw and then had experiments performed on him by Cerberus; in [=ME2=], you'll get a furious letter calling you out for working with Cerberus now. There are many, many moments in [=ME2=] where Shepard is questioned or shamed for working with Cerberus, even a Paragon Shepard who doesn't trust Cerberus in the slightest and is only working with them out of necessity.
* WhatOtherGalaxies: The Reapers are sentient cyborg spaceships that reside just outside the rim of our galaxy and return every 50,000 years to forcefully convert sentient species into more Reapers. Sentient species that have achieved space travel, that is, so they can purge them and try to prevent them from entering the galactic, ViciousCycle of evolution peak/extinction. Guess only the Milky Way hosts such species since the Reapers spent those 50 000 years dormant, not, you know, traveling to other galaxies. At the end of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', it's revealed this trope is {{justified|Trope}} given that [[spoiler: the Reapers' creator intended for them to solely focus on the Milky Way]].
** Fully [[AvertedTrope averted]] with ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', which takes place in the titular galaxy and heavily discusses the issues inherent to traveling between galaxies.
* WholePlotReference: The third game is one [[GondorCallsForAid protracted quest]] to enlist help from multiple factions who all distrust each other to some degree in order to prevent the fall of civilization at the hands of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s [[spoiler: that can only be defeated through the use of a superweapon of ancient design]], all while [[spoiler:a secondary villain stands in your way because he thinks he can defeat the BigBad by his own means]]. And the hero [[spoiler:might end up having to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]] themself in the end to finish the task]] I do believe Creator/BioWare has been [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins down this road before]].
* AWizardDidIt: Or rather a mass effect field. Why your squadmates can survive in hard vacuum without a helmet. Probably.
** Given that the squadmates who don't have helmets are nominally biotics, such as Miranda and Jack, its possible that they're simply using a biotic field to protect them.
* WorldOfBadass: Humanity discovers the Charon Relay and zips out to meet a galaxy crawling with raptor-like Space Romans with a fleet whose capital ships can shoot off Hiroshima-level railguns, ninja amphibians who make the deadliest viruses known to the galaxy, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Blue-skinned space babes]] who can kill you... with their MINDS, immune-deprived mechanics who can wipe out a ship with a couple key presses, landshark master warriors who are merely the decayed remnants of the most powerful horde in galactic history, [[SandWorm thresher maws]], and oh yes, [[EldritchAbomination Mecha-Cthulhu]]. They promptly show themselves to be [[HumansAreSpecial perhaps the most badass thing to hit the galactic scene yet]]. Yeah, the Mass Effect galaxy is a constant, ongoing UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny.
** Not to mention EVERY MAIN CHARACTER IN THE SERIES, especially Commander Shepard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:X Y Z]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: The Reapers have backup plans and contingencies for just about ''everything'' the protagonists throw at them. Makes sense, as they've been at this for a long time and have likely seen similar strategies in past cycles. See the Speed Chess page for a full list of their plans and adjustments they make.
* XenoNucleicAcid:
** Protheans are mentioned as having quad-strand DNA, which is unique among known species. It's also how Shepard and company discover the Collectors are actually heavily modified Protheans in the second game.
** Asari have the ability to mate with a partner of any gender and any species. Their actual method of reproduction is a form of parthenogenesis, where they scan DNA via biotics and modify their offspring's genome using any useful patterns from their partner. Physical mating is optional.
* YouNoTakeCandle: How Vorcha speak. They talk no definite article! Growl lots, too! [=RaaaAAAAAAAAAAAgh!=] And of course, [[LargeHam chock-full of ham!!!]] Downplayed in ''3'', where some vorcha are shown using correct grammar.
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: You didn't think [[spoiler:Saren]] and the [[spoiler:Human Reaper Larva]] would go down without a fight, right?
[[/folder]]
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