History MassEffect2 / TropesGToM

---> '''Game Salesman:''' Those asari-hanar porn games they sell in Shin Akiba are really nasty.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: A major reason why [[spoiler:Shepard's destruction of the colony]] in ''Arrival'' wasn't a bigger deal morally, because it happened to the batarians, who utilize slavery rings and PeopleFarms, among other things. The effect, however, is very much mitigated in the third game when we discover that while the batarian establishment are a bunch of jerkasses, [[FridgeHorror the regular ones actually aren't that bad.]]

** Admiral Korris comes off as the only member of the Admiralty Board that actively has a stick up his ass against Tali during her loyalty mission. However, it's then revealed that the only reason ''why'' he has a stick up his ass is because he was the only Admiral, including Tali's father, who petitioned against going to war with the geth. Considering that the quarians are majorly strapped for resources, far outnumbered, and can't even survive for a significant period of time outside their bio-suits, his apprehension is well-warranted. [[spoiler:And as it's revealed in the third game, completely correct.]]

* GoodIsNotSoft: The Overlord DLC has the most iconic moment GINS scene with Paragon!Shepard, as on seeing the horrific lengths Gavin Archer went to to gain intelligence on the Geth, a PistolWhip to his face is a ''Paragon'' interrupt. Not to mention Shepard's warning that [[spoiler: if Gavin is ever in the same system as his brother again, he's off to [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Caïna]].]]

** There's also the pre-mission conversation with Kasumi in "Stolen Memory". If you play as Fem!Shep, there's a point where her breasts are prominently in the foreground.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: [[spoiler:Legion]]'s loyalty mission, where you have to decide on [[spoiler:whether to wipe out the heretic geth or use an indoctrination virus to force them to agree with the geth majority. Granted, the heretics were going to use it on the other geth to make them see their way, but it's a tough moral decision for most players that don't wanna just KillEmAll. ''Mass Effect 3'' shows this decision affects the final war for Rannoch, as using the virus greatly bolsters the geth's numbers at the expense of some quarian assets, and vice versa if you destroy them.]]

* KillEmAll: The worst possible ending. Only [[spoiler:Joker and EDI]] survive.

* MuggingTheMonster: Samara's loyalty mission features a turian named Meln in the VIP area of a nightclub who will crassly proposition female Shepard if she intervenes to keep him from sexually harassing (and possibly assaulting) an [[BlueSkinnedSpaceBabe asari]] dancer. Cue Meln being punched, then thrown in the general direction of the door. And if Shepard is wearing a certain [[DownloadableContent DLC]] outfit, then this is done by a woman in high heels and a LittleBlackDress.

* IllGirl: A quarian in Eternity on Illium expresses irritation with how everyone she dates thinks "Ooh, she's vulnerable, she could get sick!"

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Assuming you have the "free" (with new purchase of the game) DLC, there are 11 possible party members and one PaletteSwap ([[spoiler:Morinth replaces Samara if you decided to be an evil bastard in the latter's loyalty mission]]). And that's not even counting Kasumi Goto, the (temporary) reappearance of ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' squad members, guest party members such as the quarian marine from Tali's recruitment mission, or the numerous recurring [=NPCs=], both good and bad.

** According to the games' logic, acting as a KleptomaniacHero should grant Renegade points, but it actually has no effect on your alignment.

** '''"LAUNCHING PROBE!"'''/'''"PROBE LAUNCHED!"''' during resource mini game. ''So'' worth it when you get to the solar system and try to probe Uranus.

** The mission aboard the derelict Reaper is a big one to Creator/HPLovecraft, complete with references to strange geometries and dreaming dead gods.

* KilledOffFOrReal: [[spoiler: You barely survive the Collectors' attack at the start. The worst ending has you suffer this fate.]]

* KangarooCourt: The Admiralty Board of the Migrant Fleet, at least in the case of Tali's trial. Rather than actively gunning against her, the Admirals are using the furore around Tali and her father as a pretence to push their own agendas. Nonetheless, Shepard can get her off the hook in multiple ways - including by pointing out what's really going on.

** Each squadmate has their own leitmotifs, which play in the background during their recruitment (except for the Cerberus operatives, the DLC characters and Grunt [[note]]the background music on [[spoiler: the derelict Reaper]] is actually [[spoiler: Legion's]] theme[[/note]]) and loyalty missions (except for Samara).

* MuggingTheMonster: Samara's loyalty mission features a turian named Meln in the VIP area of a nightclub who will crassly proposition [[FanNickname FemShep]] if she intervenes to keep him from sexually harassing (and possibly assaulting) an [[BlueSkinnedSpaceBabe asari]] dancer. Cue Meln being punched, then thrown in the general direction of the door. And if Shepard is wearing a certain [[DownloadableContent DLC]] outfit, then this is done by a woman in high heels and a LittleBlackDress.

** If you are romancing Garrus and complete the game with Kasumi alive, speak to her after the Suicide Mission. She'll mention Garrus having been seen going to your cabin with champagne and that a lot of people were hoping you'd end up together. [[spoiler: [[FanNickname Shakarian]] was one of the oft-lamented lacking romance from the first game.]]

** Captain Ronald Taylor's ship is the ''MSV [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback Hugo Gernsback]]'', who is considered "The Father of Science Fiction" for getting many, ''many'' sci-fi writers their first published work -- and for whom the UsefulNotes/HugoAwards are named for.

** Captain Ronald Taylor's ship is the ''MSV Creator/HugoGernsback''.

** To calculate the Hold the Line team needed for a no-deaths outcome, [[spoiler: the team's average defensive rating needs to be 2.0 or greater. Garrus, Grunt and Zaeed (the Tuff Guys) are rated 4, Mordin, Jack, Tali and Kasumi (the Weak Links) are rated 1, and the rest (the Regular Joes) are rated 2. Subtract 1 from the rating of any non-loyal character.]]

* HubUnderAttack: After [[{{EmpoweredBadassNormal}} Commander Shepard]] and crew gathers the tech that will allow them to go through the Omega 4 relay, EDI (the onboard AI) recommends that the Shepard and all the main party members head for the next port of call via shuttle while she tests the installation of the new tech. While Shepard is gone, the Collectors invade and the player is put in control of [[{{NonActionGuy}} Joker]], the ship's pilot. With the assistance of EDI, Joker sneaks past Praetorians and Scions to release EDI's RestrainingBolt, allowing her to reboot the ''Normandy''[='s=] defenses and eject the remaining Collectors out the airlocks. Joker is successful but once it's over, he finds that all the rest of the crew have been abducted.

* IdiotPlot: All sides commit major strategic blunders between ME 1 and ME 3, which are borderline idiotic. For Shepard and the Council races, this leads to the galaxy being woefully unprepared when the Reapers finally invade in ME 3, exacerbating the already horrifying death toll. On the Reapers' side, this leads to [[spoiler: their eventual defeat after inflicting devastating destruction]].
** The Collectors: The plan of the Collectors in ME 2 is to [[spoiler: build a human Reaper]].
*** Yet, it is hard to see how a single [[spoiler: human Reaper would help the Reapers accomplish their plan, with the vast majority of the deaths being caused by the Collectors themselves as they abduct humans to build the Reaper]]. This is particularly mysterious, since Sovereign, with a whole army behind its back, already failed in the previous game.
*** Moreover, according to EDI's estimate, the completion of this [[spoiler: Reaper]] is still in its early stage at the end of the game. Given that the Reapers invade the Milky Way less than a year later, this begs the question of what the use of one half-completed [[spoiler: Reaper]] could possibly be.
*** Finally, while the [[spoiler: Reapers continue to wait in dark space until the eventual completion of the human Reaper]], they give the galaxy ample time to prepare. This means they give away one of their main advantages, i.e., the element of surprise. Granted, the Council races don't use the time to prepare (see below), but the Reapers couldn't have foreseen this.
** The Council races: In ME 2, Shepard is forced to join up with Cerberus, a highly questionable organization to say the least, because [[ApatheticCitizens everybody else is dismissing their warnings of the coming Reaper invasion]]. This kind of ignorance may be plausible from the type of politicians, say, found on the Council. However, the game makes it seem that aside from a few individuals like the Virmire survivor, Anderson, Hackett or Kirrahe, all the higher-ups of top-notch intelligence organizations and governments is now convinced that Shepard and their team were basically imagining things and are actively burying their heads in the sand out of fear of dealing with the Reapers. Given all the evidence, this kind of willing ignorance is simply unbelievable.
*** The game tries to [[HandWave hand wave]] this with a couple of lines about the Vigil on Ilos having shut down. This, however, completely ignores the sheer size of the combined evidence.
** Shepard: Half-way through the game, we encounter [[spoiler: the corpse of an actual Reaper]]. Since getting the galaxy ready for the coming Reaper invasion is the single most important thing, making this find known to the Council should have top priority. Yet, we do no such thing, which leads to the galaxy being woefully unprepared when the invasion starts in ME 3. The game [[HandWave hand waves]] this by having the Council either acting as if Shepard doesn't exist (if the original Council died, whether they were replaced by humans or aliens) or giving them baack their Spectre status but ordering them to stick to the Terminus systems or else (if the original Council survived), so any warning would've fallen on deaf ears.
** Cerberus: The Illusive Man pours vast amount of resources into resurrecting Shepard, rebuilding and upgrading the Normandy and hiring a top-notch team.
*** Yet regardless of your decisions at the end of ME 2, the assets gained by Cerberus are minimal at best.
*** Worst, in ME 3 [[spoiler: Shepard, using the Normandy and many of the team from ME 2, become a major annoyance for Cerberus]].
*** Given that Shepard already did the same thing in ME 1, The Illusive Man should have known better.