How the hell will Shepard defeat the reapers in Mass Effect 3?

Warning, unmarked spoilers below. If you haven't beaten the first two games, then log off right now and go play them.

My impatience for this game is reaching breaking point. I want this game now. It's maddening.

Anyhows, Shepard's probably going to use some Forgotten Superweapon or something, since there's no way in hell even the combined might of every race in the galaxy is going to defeat an entire fleet of reapers in a straight fight.

Also, this game has made me aware of my own mortality. Specifically, in that I'm terrified an asteroid is going to fall on me or something before I get a chance to play the game.

If you haven't beaten the first two games and are still reading this, that means you are not playing Mass Effect right now. Go do it.

EDIT: I'm well aware that there is already an existing Mass Effect 3 thread, so this will be one for story and junk, only.

DOUBLE EDIT: Also, I have a habit of making my own threads without checking first to see if a thread on that topic already exists.

edited 8th Jun '11 10:26:58 PM by RL_Nice

He'll teach them the power of love.

Also, isn't there a ME 3 thread already?

That'll only be the Paragon solution, of course. Also, I'm making an edit to my original post in regards to the existing thread.

Renagade is the power of rock. Namely, Led Zeppelin.

I think they'll discover the secrets of magic and will go on an epic intergalactic quest to learn the true name of the reapers in the ancient language so that they could change their nature or remove them from existence. 8D

I dont know. Never played MassEffect. I'm angry at DmC and I'm venting right now.

edited 8th Jun '11 10:45:54 PM by Zeromaeus

A random plot device.

Failing that, artificial black hole.

Shepard won't defeat them.

Conrad Verner will.

He'll use Jacob's Dark Matter, aka his abs, combined with Dat Mass from Miranda to wipe out the Reapers immediately.

He'll make all the Space Lesbians have sex at the same time, thus making the reapers uncomfortable with being in the same room galaxy, thus making them leave.

*Warning: Obligatory Bruce Campbell joke ahead*

He'll just tell the reapers that Bruce Campbell's grave is on Earth, and they'll all self-destruct in fear of his ghost.

He and team show their rape faces. That's the Paragon Ending; the Renegade Ending, they actually rape them.

They seek out the queen reaper and defeat it, and all the others die.

Sorry.

By shooting them with the Magic Shield-Bypassing Cutscene Pistol!

Shepard will get them into a bottleneck, then put Garrus in the middle of it.

Reapers: Allows us passage.

Garrus: Can it wait a bit? I'm just in the middle of some calibrations.

Reapers: FFFFFFU-

As much as the idea defies canon, it'll most likely be a military victory with the united forces of the galaxy. Failing that, we'll get a Deus Ex Machina, another race of precursors that shows up to save us, or some mind boggling stupid death for the Reapers like "falling into a black hole."

Harbinger:"What is this black twirly thingie? Oh shiny......"

Reaper 1:"What the fuck is he doing?!"

Reaper 2:"Don't ask me, Harbinger has got the attention span of a rodent."

Reaper 1 & 2:"Wait, what is that? Oh shit! Black hole! Fuuuuuuuuuuckk....................."

Harbinger:"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

What would be a satisfactory way to defeat the Reapers? Luring them into a system and blowing its Relay could work.

Yeah, Arrival could be a foreshadowing. Of course, if it's all or most relays, to get all Reapers, then the galaxy is utterly screwed.

Though I do think it will involve 'dark energy' somehow.

A dark energy weapon ala the Thannix cannon?

Could be, but it would be a bit disappointing if it's a technological Ass Pull...

The Normandy will travel to the past and get Samantha Carter and Mc Kay to make a last-minute-reaper-killing device.

How about a technological virus (like the one in Legion's loyalty mission) to turn them friendly and/or hostile to each other. Let them finish each other off while we watch the carnage with popcorn.

: It only worked on the Geth due the way the nodes are redistributes.
The reapers a.... a bit more advanced, it will not work.

The solution will most likely involve a gate and a black hole, and some antimatter weapons.........

Give the Krogan Mecha. I'm sure they'd relish the opportunity to fight BIG THINGS!

I'd say there are three ways to beat the Reapers, which mesh with your free different main paths through the prior games:

1. Grand alliance of all space. Basically, you facing the Reapers with the fleet and army of doom, composed of everybody. Note that this doesn't contradict canon: in the past, the Reapers have hit the galaxy when there was *one* civilization, and they hit it by surprise, taking out the vast majority of the infrastructure in one go. They have neither advantage this time, and in fact their invasion is centuries late. So, get the Citadel Council, the Krogan, the Rachni, the Quarians, and *especially* the Geth, and have them trade technological advantages? You have something that can credibly beat the Reapers, particularly since they probably burned an unusually high amount of energy getting to the galaxy the long way. The 'Paragon' solution.

2. Reaper tech. You captured the Collector Base, you have a huge ass sample of Reaper technology, which Cerberus has a couple years to reverse engineer. Thus, you can start equipping humanity, and perhaps any alien races willing to bend the knee, with technological power for in advance of the galactic norm, giving you the firepower to actually fight the Reapers on something approaching even terms ( and given the numbers advantage of even just humanity's fleets versus the Reapers themselves, "approaching even" doesn't have to approach too closely to be bad for the Reapers ). The 'Renegade' solution.

3. Nova bomb. The Quarians and Geth both investigated the solar system with the mysterious and inappropriate stellar behavior in ME 2. Both of whom are scientifically advanced races. And you know about the place, and have made contact of varying degrees with both. So, presuming the changes are artificial, its a matter of figuring out what exactly *happened* to that star. . . and how to duplicate or expand on the principle. Bam, you have a way to make a sun go nova ( or destructively energetic, or whatnot, the details don't matter too much ). And the Reapers? Have largely focused on swarming all over a single planet Earth. The 'I fucked up big time, and now I have to sacrifice humanity's homeworld to save the galaxy' solution.

All of them are based in and supported by stuff already presented in the prior games.