History MassEffect3 / TropesLToR

** Conrad Verner makes yet another appearance, causing yet more trouble by trying to emulate Commander Shepard, this time joining Cerberus and accidentally helping them sabotage medigel dispensers. His total ineptness is somewhat subverted, however, as when he yet again offers to help you, Shepard, in exasperation, tells him that they're working on a (top secret, not supposed to be talked about at all) Prothean dark energy device to save the galaxy. As it turns out, [[GeniusDitz Conrad Verner studied dark energy and xenotechnology at university, and actually contributes some data to the Crucible project]]. To be fair, Verner is a bit crazy, so Shepard probably assumed no one would believe him anyway if he blabbed.

* MechVsBeast: Summoning Kalros, mother of all thresher maws, to fight a Reaper destroyer.

* NotThatKindOfDoctor: During the "From Ashes" mission, your other squadmate will ask Liara if she has ever dug up any dinosaur bones during her time as an AdventurerArchaeologist. Liara replies with a mini-lecture on the difference between archeology and paleontology before she realizes they're kidding. James Vega sheepishly quips, "I just like [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]]..."

* ProHumanTranshuman: [[spoiler: If you choose the Control ending in the Extended Cut, Reaper!Shep becomes this, especially if they were a Paragon]].

*** The Marksman ability turns ANY automatic weapon you are holding into this by cranking your rate-of-fire UpToEleven. The N7 Destroyer's Devastator Mode increases rate of fire ''and'' magazine size.

** Taken UpToEleven [[spoiler:with the ''Leviathan'' DLC - Shepard gets the race that created the ''Catalyst,'' and by extension the reapers ''themselves,'' to join the fight!]]

* OldSaveBonus: Taken UpToEleven. The game tracks over a thousand variables from a save file that went through the previous two games, including:

* RomanceSidequest: UpToEleven in ''Mass Effect 3'', which will resolve all of the romantic conflicts generated in the first two games - that is, if you were not faithful to your romance from ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', there could be sparks flying. The game will also reward you for being faithful to your ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' romance (or ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' romance if you did not romance anyone in the first game). And if you do not romance anyone, the game will notice that, too.

** If Kelly appears in the docks, you only have one chance to tell Kelly Chambers to change her identity. If you don't, you can't change your mind, and she's doomed to die during Priority: The Citadel II, causing you to miss out on some war assets (which to be fair, are pretty negligible).

** If Kelly appears in the docks, you only have one chance to tell Kelly Chambers to change her identity. If you choose the wrong choice, you can't change your mind, and she's doomed to die later in the game, causing you to miss out on some war assets.

** You only have one chance to tell Kelly Chambers to change her identity; if you choose the wrong choice, she's doomed to die later in the game, and you miss out on the war assets she grants.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St4o-VgOdMc Joker tells a 1000 year old joke]] about a krogan and salarian. EDI charges that it's stereotypical, and such stereotypes of krogan being nasty, war-minded brutes led to the development of the genophage. Joker counters that it's one of the only jokes you'll hear both species tell, and that comedy is a way for people to air out nasty thoughts and grievances.

** The game keeps track of which characters you use the most during missions which, in addition to affecting dialogue, determines [[spoiler:which squadmate(s) convince Joker to evacuate after the Crucible fires, who steps out of the Normandy after it crash-lands, and who puts up Shepard's plaque in the ending (assuming there is no Love Interest.)]]

* PhilosophicalChoiceEndings: "What's the best way to prevent the (supposedly inevitable) [[RobotWar conflict between organics and synthetics]]?" The options are: destroying all synthetics (including friendly ones), putting them under complete control of the organics (even though the one controlling them will hardly count as an organic anymore), or erasing the distinction in the first place, turning everyone into synth-organic life-forms regardless of their wishes. One of the reasons the ending did not sit well with most fans was that even though the main antagonists of the series are a race of sentient machines, the games contain multiple examples of peaceful synthetic-organic coexistence (the geth, EDI)--thus, many players felt this question wasn't grounded in the plot at all. As a response, the Extended Cut additionally asks those players whether sacrificing all advanced life in the galaxy is worth ''not'' having to make that choice--with the caveat that someone else, millenia later, will have to do it in Shepard's stead.

* NeverNeedsSharpening: InUniverse with the Mattock assault rifle. It's exclusively semi-auto, and this is advertised as a feature to limit wasted shots.

* LandSeaSky: The three largest armies can be seen to represent this in their favoured forms of warfare. The krogans utilise a ground-based Army and Tanks (Land), the humans use a Space-Navy with many Carriers to quickly deploy Marine forces (Sea), while the turians provide aerial-support and bombing runs (Sky).

* NotSoDifferent:

** The ''Citadel'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] uses this as a CentralTheme. The [[ArcVillain Mysterious Figure]] (who had previously spoken derisively about the "[[MagneticHero Cult of Shepard]]") asks Shepard [[NotSoDifferent what makes the two of them so different]] near the end, when both are hanging from the ''Normandy''. Cue Shepard's team mates running to their rescue while the villain's confidant just turns away, showing the TrueCompanions' loyalty and willingness to come and aid them as being the differentiating factor. The story ends with a party celebrating this.

* {{Retcon}}: In the [[ReCut Extended Cut DLC]], [[spoiler:the mass relays are shown merely suffering damage instead of blowing up, and the ''Normandy'' suffers a lot less damage upon crashing.]]

* MultiplayerDifficultySpike: The multiplayer {{cap}}s the player level to 20 (compared to 60 in the SP), drastically reduces available skills, and consistently pits the players against hard-to-beat enemies rarely encountered even on higher difficulties in SP (or not encountered at all, such as the {{DLC}}-only [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 Collector]] faction).

* RealSongThemeTune: Similar to the N7 hoodie, the ''Citadel'' DLC retcons the game's main love theme ("I Was Lost Without You") into being from in-universe movie ''Fleet and Flotilla'' as the love theme for its turian and quarian protagonists. [[spoiler:If Tali is Shepard's love interest, she sings along to the theme]]. Similarly, "Vigil's Theme" becomes a song which Liara heard and learned to play on the piano.
* RealityEnsues:
** Kelly Chambers is not a badass soldier like Jacob, or a biotic genetically engineered goddess-like Miranda. She is a Yeoman with a degree in psychology. [[spoiler:When Cerberus come for her, if Shepard had not convinced her to change her identity, she will die. There is no fight. There is no battle. Shepard is not there to help. She is asked if she is Kelly Chambers, and when she says yes, she is shot between the eyes at point-blank range.]]
** After seeing them shooting down 160 meter tall Destroyers with heavy weapons, powerful backup and tactics, the game has [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] [[spoiler:take on Harbinger the largest and most powerful Reaper with a small company of ground forces with little forewarning. [[CurbStompBattle It goes about as well as you'd expect.]]]]
** In the Extended Cut DLC, the [[spoiler: Refusal ending, where Shepard refuses to use the Crucible and tells the Catalyst that they, and the rest of the galaxy, [[IDieFree will die on their own terms, not its.]] All of Sword, Shield, and Hammer are massacred and the galaxy falls to the Reapers.]]
** In order to dispense the genophage cure, the turians and krogan come up with a brilliant plan to launch a combined air-ground assault to distract the Reaper Destroyer away from the Shroud, allowing a small team to sneak in. Except nobody considered that krogan aren't used to conducting these kind of coordinated assaults since swarming positions with shock troops is the only way they have fought for millennia, and they haven't run any military exercises with humans or turians to learn the nitty gritty of these operations. So of course they fail to plan a proper route for their trucks to the Shroud, and cannot convince the turians to delay the airstrike until the ground team gets to the op area.
** EDI points out that despite their military might, the krogan lack the ships needed to actually transport their troops on a large scale as well as other materials they'd need for a prolonged campaign, as they've only ever had to fight rival clans on their homeworld.
** After hearing a traumatized soldier at the hospital explain what happened to her, you can authorize her request to have a gun. Presumably to give her a sense of security. If so, you'll discover she killed herself with it, demoralizing the staff. Handing a loaded gun to a clearly traumatized individual isn't a good idea.
** Just because the galaxy is rallying to fight the Reapers does ''not'' mean they have unlimited resources; a financial report you can read in the Spectre Office reveals that the galaxy can only afford to fight the Reapers for ''one year'' before the economy collapses.

* NukeEm: Glyph, Liara's drone assistant from the Shadow Broker base, reveals that the entire colony of Tyvor detonated its nuclear arms on itself [[TakingYouWithMe in an attempt to take the invading reapers down with them.]] On Earth however, the Reapers knew to attack the nuke silos and take the option off the table early into the invasion.

** In order to dispense the genophage cure, the turians and krogan come up with a brilliant plan to launch a combined air-ground assault to distract the Reaper destroyer away from the shroud, allowing a small team to sneak in. Except nobody considered that krogan aren't used to conducting these kind of coordinated assaults since swarming positions with shock troops is the only way they have fought for millennia, and they haven't run any military exercises with humans or turians to learn the nitty gritty of these operations. So of course they fail to plan a proper route for their trucks to the shroud, and cannot convince the turians to delay the airstrike until the ground team gets to the op area.
** EDI points out that despite their military might the krogan lack the ships needed to actually transport their troops on a large scale. As well as other materials they'd need for a prolonged campaign, as they've only ever had to fight rival clans on their homeworld.
** After hearing a traumatized soldier at the hospital explain what happened to her you can authorize her request to have a gun. Presumably to give her a sense of security. If so you'll discover she killed herself with it, demoralizing the staff. Handing a loaded gun to a clearly traumatized individual isn't a good idea.

** Control: [[spoiler: Shepard uses the Illusive Man's plan and takes control of the Reapers, ordering them to cease hostilities and leave. In the Extended Cut, it is revealed that Shepard became the Reapers, ''all of them,'' and is rebuilding what they destroyed, vowing to serve as the preserver of all civilization. More renegade Shepards will vow to be a strong leader]].
** Destroy: [[spoiler: Shepard uses the Crucible to destroy the Reapers, with the side effect of [[GenocideDilemma destroying every synthetic in the galaxy along with them.]] This is the only ending in which Shepard potentially survives]].
** Synthesis: [[spoiler: Shepard [[TakeAThirdOption takes a third option]] and disseminates all of their energy into the Crucible, causing a chain reaction that converts all organic and synthetic life in the galaxy into [[TheSingularity cellular-level cyborgs]], [[HeroicSacrifice but killing Shepard in the process]]. Since the Reapers' motive for the cycle no longer applies, they cease hostilities and begin helping galactic civilisation]].
** The ''Extended Cut'' DLC adds a new ending: [[spoiler:Refusal: Shepard decides to reject all of these previous options and essentially tells the Catalyst to go screw himself. Unfortunately, this causes the Catalyst to shut down the Crucible, ruining any chance of defeating the Reapers... in this cycle, at least]].

* MiniGameZone: The Silversun Strip from the "Citadel" DLC. It has an arena, an arcade, a casino and a customizable apartment. And dozens of opportunities to interact with squadmates.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: A possibility during the mission to unite the different mercenary groups under Aria's banner. When recruiting Eclipse, you speak with their leader, [[AxCrazy Jona Sederis]], who is currently being held in a prison cell on the Citadel. She is completely confident that she is about to be released and mentions offhand that her second-in-command is a "weak-willed toady" who won't defy her. Shepard can instead make a deal with Sederis' second-in-command [[MeaningfulName Sayn]], who will take over. Depending on your choice, Sayn will either leave Sederis locked up, or have her released only to assassinate her.

* PyrrhicVictory: Low War Asset tallies before the final battle result in greater and greater damage to your forces, which impacts what state galactic civilization exists at after the conflict. If you have very low War Assets, you don't even get to [[spoiler: choose your ending; you either get Destroy or Control based on your choice for the Collector Base]].
-->'''Casey Hudson:''' If you just rip straight down the critical path and try and finish the game as soon as you can, and do very little optional or side stuff, then you can finish the game. You can have some kind of ending and victory, but it’ll be a lot more brutal and minimal relative to if you do a lot of stuff.

** Before embarking on the Geth Dreadnought, Kaiden and Tali talk shop about their preferred model of omni-tool, with Kaiden favoring the Logic Arrest and Tali supporting the Nexus. Both were models that could be obtained in ''Mass Effect'', where the Logic Arrest provides optimal boosts to shields and recharge time for the First Aid ability, while the Nexus provides a massive boost to tech ability cooldown.

* MythologyGag: One of the games in the Castle Arcade is called ''Shattered Eezo''. ''VideoGame/ShatteredSteel'' was Creator/BioWare's first game.

'''EDI:''' No. A joke has a specific structure. This was "messing with you".

** If you managed to save [[spoiler:Kelly Chambers]] and followed a specific set of circumstances, you can get a bonus War Asset and bonus intel from a tropical fish bought in the previous game.

** Of the holographic variety, used by batarian characters to [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom punch enemies across the room]]. The batarian "enforcement gauntlet" functions by flash-forging several blades around the wrist as the user winds up a punch. Once the punch is landed, a kinetic barrier is generated along their length and rapidly expands. The result of taking one of these to the chin causes [[YourHeadAsplode understandably excessive cranial trauma]]. The batarian Gauntlet lets any character do this. Including the volus.