History Fridge / MassEffect

* A while back ThisTroper said how the bar [[BadGuyBar Afterlife]] is not a ''just'' some [[RuleOfCool cool name]]. Well, I've started researching on the names of the other bars/stripclubs we can visit in the game. ''Flux?'' Yeah, pretty cool name I guess, but take in to consideration what it means: the music we can hear is just damn ''flowing'' in the ears- not to mention the ''influx'' of money you can get from the casino! Okay, how about ''Chora's Den?'' According to Greek philosophy, ''Khora'' is often linked with sexually-coded maternal overtones; words often associted with it are ''mother, womb, nurse''- wait a minute, [[FreudWasRight Freudian much]]?! -{{Tropers/Raverine}}

* A while back ThisTroper said how the bar [[BadGuyBar Afterlife]] is not a ''just'' some [[RuleOfCool cool name]]. Well, I've started researching on the names of the other bars/stripclubs we can visit in the game. ''Flux?'' Yeah, pretty cool name I guess, but take in to consideration what it means: the music we can hear is just damn ''flowing'' in the ears- not to mention the ''influx'' of money you can get from the casino! Okay, how about ''Chora's Den?'' According to Greek philosophy, ''Khora'' is often linked with sexually-coded maternal overtones; words often associted with it are ''mother, womb, nurse''- wait a minute, [[FreudWasRight Freudian much]]?!

* Maybe I'm a total idiot for not seeing this immediately, but the nightclub [[BadGuyBar Afterlife]] just seems like a random name for a bar/stripclub, right? WRONG. If you think about it, it gets its name from the mined-out space station it resides on, [[WretchedHive Omega]]. After all, the name ''Omega'' often alludes to the end of everything- life, death, whatever- and Afterlife is something of a beginning- at least to the mercs and scums who go there. It's brilliant! -{{Tropers/Raaverine}}

* The aging system and life expectancy of Krogans are not very well explained in-game. They're never said to live astoundingly long lives like the Asari, but Wrex tells stories of events some 200 years ago like they were yesterday and an Asari mentions her Krogan bondmate living almost as long as her. It's a simple solution when you look at their turtle-like physiology though - Krogans just don't die of natural causes. The reason you don't see milennia-old Krogans is because they're all warlike and end up dying in battle somewhere along the way.

* Maybe I'm a total idiot for not seeing this immeadiately, but the nightclub [[BadGuyBar Afterlife]] just seems like a random name for a bar/stripclub, right? WRONG. If you think about it, it gets its name from the mined-out space station it resides on, [[WretchedHive Omega]]. After all, the name omega often alludes to the end of everything- life, death, whatever- and Afterlife is something of a beginning- at least to the mercs and scums who go there. It's brilliant! -Raverine

** That is exactly what makes it an "''It Just Bugs Me''" for me. One might assume that what Shepard does is connecting the circuits using wire or something like that. However, this raises question since s/he only connects the dots which are <i>already connected</i> on the board itself. [=-HaXXeR=]

* This troper wondered why you only get the Harbinger codex entry on the Renegade entry, after a bit of thinking I realized, That codex entry is the first of the rewards that you reap from keeping the Collector Station.

* The idea of Spectres in general beautifully aligns with the setting designers' effort to justify everything that happens in-game. The Council, essentially, gives Shepard the in-universe license to act exactly like an RPG player character.

* This troper had a moment of Fridge Brilliance for Mass Effect's plot itself. Initially, he had many of the same misgivings stated on the [[JustBugsMe/MassEffect Just Bugs Me]] page: [[spoiler:Why didn't Saren activate the Citadel Relay while he was there, secretly? Why didn't Sovreign just attack the Citadel in the first place? What was the point behind Saren having to find the Beacons and Ilos? But then, this troper reached the Ilos VI, and through the dialog with it, [[ThisIsSparta EVERYTHING. MADE. SENSE.]] Sovreign's original plan was to get the Keepers to activate the Relay themselves, allowing him to let the Reapers return without ever really lifting a finger. But with the Keepers modified by the Protheans, Sovreign's essentially screwed. Sure, he could've flown in and hooked himself up to the Citadel and done the job manually, but as we see at the end of the game, he would've gotten Curb Stomped pretty badly by the defending fleets and then that'd be the end of the Reapers. So with Saren's help, he formulates a backup plan. Somehow, he knows the Protheans made a miniature Relay that let them get to the Citadel, so he sends Saren off to find it, with the Beacons able to tell him the location (likely by tracing the Beacons back to their point of origin). At the same time, Saren begins gathering allies: the Geth, the Krogan, the Rachni, etc. All of it, ''all of it'', the gathering of allies and the finding of the Conduit, was all just to provide Sovreign with cover and protection long enough for him to activate the Citadel Relay manually. The new plan would've been thus: with the Relay on Ilos secured, Saren teleports onto the Citadel with an army of Geth, Krogan and Rachni, completely overwhelming the defenders and crippling the Citadel's "ground" defenses. Sovreign flies in with the Geth fleet, the Geth carving a path for him through the Citadel fleet and holding off any reinforcements. Saren, in control of the Citadel's Control Center, closes the Citadel's arms, preventing anyone else from approach the station. With the Geth fleet maintaining a perimeter outside and Saren's army preventing anyone still on the Citadel from interfering, Sovreign is given all the time he needs to hook himself up to the Citadel, activate the Relay manually and summon the other Reapers.]] EFFING. BRILLIANT. -GhostWhoWalks

** That moment of Fridge Brilliance led to this troper's own moment of Fridge Brilliance. Consider Garrus. the other team members go from various color schemes to some combination of black/orange/white. Garrus, and to a lesser degree, Tali, change their armors to something that resembles the Cerberus color palette, but maintains distinct differences, such as Garrus's use of blue. After reading the above entry, the thought struck me: Yes, the ME1 veterans are changing something to fit in with Cerberus, but retaining enough individuality to show that they are allied with Shepard first, and Cerberus a very distant second. The reason that Garrus shows more individuality is that he was recruited early, when Shepard was at his most uncomfortable working with/for The Illusive Man. -Schezar

* People keep saying that Miranda's face is UncannyValley because of how strange it looks. But while reading that page, this Troper realized that [[spoiler: the reason her face does seem so strange is because it's ''too perfect''. Since she was a designer baby grown in a lab, her face is more symmetrical than the average human's!]]

* This Troper recently played Mass Effect again and was initially bugged by Saren's temper tantrum after he finds out Shepard uses the beacon on Eden Prime. Given how Saren was so calm and collected throughout the rest of the game, it seemed rather out of character for him to start roaring incoherently and throwing things around, not to mention all the flashing red lights in the background. And then this Troper realised that [[spoiler: ''Sovereign'' was the one having the temper tantrum ''through'' Saren. You can even hear his voice mixed in with Saren's when he states Shepard must be eliminated.]]

** This troper absolutly loves this idea.

* Salarians are stated to be "haplo-diploid egg-layers; unfertilized eggs produce males and fertilized eggs produce females." Umm... Doesn't that mean that males only carry the genetic material of their mothers? Females have fathers, but males only have mothers. "Nephew" can be either "brother or sister's son", but [[FridgeLogic wouldn't a salarian female have dozens, if not hundreds of sons? Why's he so close to this particular one, no matter how smart?]] That particular SequelHook is the size of the Burj Khalifa.

* [[spoiler: The 'biotic god' volus ''is'' actually a powerful biotic due to the drugs the Eclipse gave him, they're just not stupid enough to give him a biotic amp!]]

** Oh, that leads to ''more'' Fridge Brilliance, or possibly Horror - husks are made out of individual humans and [[spoiler:the human Reaper is made up of lots of humans, so husks are basically ''miniature Reapers''.]]

* While I don't know if this has or will have any significance, you know how the [[spoiler: human Reaper larva]] seems to have two pupils in it's left eye? So do the husks.

* At first, [[Tropers/TeraChimera I]] was annoyed that in the ''MassEffect3'' teaser, [[FanNickname Big Ben]]'s sniper rifle looks like a bolt-action gun - it's the year 2185, for Pete's sake! But guess what I found while browsing the ''[=ME=]'' wiki - the Mantis and the Widow are both bolt-action. The design most likely allows for a quick cycling of a heat sink, and they're powerful enough that each round ''could'' require its own heat sink.

* The Renegade interrupt button, on the 360 at least, is the right trigger, or fire button. The Paragon interrupt button is the left trigger, or aim button. Renegade interrupts are usually violent and immediate, like firing a gun. Paragon interrupts are usually making someone rethink what they're doing (though not always in a violent way), like pointing - but not firing - a gun at a mugger or someone like that.

** This troper absolutlty loves this idea.

* It's easy to get angry about how the love interest from the original. They're at least distant, if not outright hostile. But, think about this for a minute. Shepard is probably as angry about this as you are! He/She would go looking for someone for confort. Tali and Garrus serve as the UnluckyChildhoodFriend of sorts. Thane is the dying Woobie to bond with. Miranda and Jacob take Ashley and Kaidan's place almost perfectly. They all have good reasons for acting like this -- ''Especially'' [[BrokenBird Liara]]. It turns out [[spoiler:she got that way saving your life. Trashing her ends up being an epic case of WhatTheHellHero.]] It's still infuriating for Liara/Shepard shippers, but presumably remaining loyal to her will pay off in ME 3.

* The Renegade interrupt button, on the 360 at least, is the right trigger, or fire button. The Paragon interrupt button is the left trigger, or aim button. Renegade interrupts are usually violent and immediate, like firing a gun. Paragon interrupts are usually making someone rethink what they're doing (though not always in a violent way), like pointing - but not firing - a gun at a mugger or someone.