History MassEffect / TropesAToD

* CompilationRerelease: The aptly named ''Mass Effect Trilogy''. This release also marks the first time the original game is playable on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, either in the set or as a separate PSN title for people who already own the last two.

* CoolGuns: Any gun you find. The bullets are specks from a block of metal inside the gun propelled at high speed by a mass effect field, reducing the need for traditional magazines. This block of metal can also be remixed with tungsten or explosive paste, allowing for a variety of unique effects on the bullets.

*** In the first game, choose kill [[spoiler:Wrex]]. Or if you leave him alive, in the third game you can [[spoiler:sabotage the genophage cure]], which forces you to kill him later on.

*** With all of the above bad choices, at the beginning the final mission of the third game you have only four squadmates left: [[spoiler:Liara, EDI, Javik, and James]]. If your War Asset rating is not high enough, [[spoiler:whichever two you choose to accompany you on the mission]] will die before the final confrontation. So at that point, only two of your 18 potential squadmates are still alive.

* AncestorVeneration: Ancestor worship is the primary religion of the quarian race. Back when they were still an associate race of the Citadel Council, quarians were in the process of making Virtual Intelligences with personality imprints of their dead ancestors. There was a great deal of internal debate over whether this qualified as worshiping the VIs instead of the ancestors proper. Some more superstitious quarians believe that their exile from their homeworld following the geth rebellion was punishment for their hubris.

* DaylightHorror: Though the games aren't exactly horror games, the destroyed colonies or those under attack are almost always visited at sunset with a heavily overcast sky. Though the last rays of the sun still lighten up the environment, the devastation and solitude makes it far from comforting.
** In the third game, the invasion of Earth. It's a sunny day in Vancouver... and the world is ending. Also, on Rannoch, Shepard faces a [[spoiler: Reaper Destroyer]] ''on foot'' as the sun rises.
** Eos, in ''Andromeda''. The game mentions it has a day / night cycle, but Ryder only ever seems to visit in the daytime. Elaaden as well, but it has the justification of being a tidally locked moon, with everyone living on the warm and sunny side where the water is.

* CurbStompCushion: Unlike every other race that faced a full-scale Reaper invasion, where the planetary military is crushed within hours and forced into guerrilla warfare, the turians actually put up serious resistance in their home system. They manage to take out several Reaper capital ships in the opening of the fight, and force them into a grueling fight for the entire game (which is implied to take place over several months). The highlight is the "Miracle At Palaven", where the turian/krogan alliance, at great cost, smuggle a bunch of [=WMDs=] onto Reaper vessels, blowing them up from the inside. While the turians are eventually forced to abandon the defense of Palaven for the sake of the Crucible, it was littered with the most number of Reaper corpses. The turians are still aware however of just how much of a HopelessWar this is as they experience at least 80% casualties in each engagement and lose entire platoons all at once, but they more or less did all they could, and came out doing better than just about everyone else.

** The drell are basically at the edge of going extinct due to a combination of not having enough people, and loosing too many suddenly on account of their home world becoming almost uninhabitable, and only a portion being safely moved off world by the hanar. Worse, several are dying from a respiratory disease that isn't able to be cursed.

* DyingRace: The krogan. [[spoiler:Potentially revoked in the third game if you cure the genophage]].

** The Reaper invasions of Earth, the Batarian Hegemony, and Thessia in the third game.

* CurbStompCushion: Unlike every other race that faced a full-scale Reaper invasion, where the planetary military is crushed within hours and forced into guerrilla warfare, the turians actually put up serious resistance in their home system. They manage to take out several Reaper capital ships in the opening of the fight, and force them into a grueling fight for the entire game (which is implied to take place over several months). The highlight is the "Miracle At Palaven", where the turian/krogan alliance, at great cost, smuggle a bunch of [=WMDs=] onto Reaper vessels, blowing them up from the inside. While the turians are eventually forced to abandon the defense of Palaven for the sake of the Crucible, it was littered with the most number of Reaper corpses. The turians are still aware however of just how much of a HopelessWar this is as they experience at least 80% casualties in each engagement and lose entire platoons all at once.

** Quarians can have sex, but they must do it in a sterile environment due to their weak immune system.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Everyone of the Citadel Council is expected to make a certain minimum contribution to galactic security, which results in possession of a strong military being one of the primary qualifiers for membership. Two of the Council races, turians and humans, both got their seats because of feats of military prowess, and the other two have some of the most powerful individual soldiers and the best intelligence gathering capabilities in Citadel space.

** [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]]: Originally Brute/Spammer/GameBreaker due to extreme toughness and high birthrate. After the [[DepopulationBomb genophage]], doctrine has shifted to highly-trained, heavily-equipped berserker-style troops, making them more Elitist/Brute.

** [[ProudMerchantRaceGuy Volus]]: Economist/Diplomat. Although it is stated that the Volus have their own military, it is very small and geared towards supporting the Turian military forces, who offer protection in exchange for financial tithes and economic know-how from the Volus.

** A variation of this is present in galactic law in regards to uncharted mass relays; they are not to be activated until well after the space beyond it has been thoroughly mapped. The last time the Council activated an uncharted mass relay, the [[BugWar rachni invaded]], which in turn led to the aforementioned ill-fated attempt to uplift the krogan. When humans first discovered a mass relay near Pluto and attempted to activate it, the turians came to enforce this law ''[[DisproportionateRetribution with prejudice]]''.

** The strange readings of Haestrom's sun are never addressed again after Tali's recruitment mission in the second game. At the end of her loyalty mission, it's revealed the sun is dying prematurely due to the influence of dark energy. See WhatCouldHaveBeen on the Trivia page.