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In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization.
In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars.
The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.

They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call it...
MASS EFFECT

Mass Effect is a Space Opera multimedia franchise, originating as an RPG/Third-Person Shooter. It was developed by BioWare, which also developed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (to which Mass Effect is a Creator-Driven Successor to), Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Neverwinter Nights.

The series takes place in the late 22nd century. A few decades ago, Mars turned out to have an outpost of the franchise's Precursors, the "Protheans," which yielded up advanced technology, including "element zero," a substance that can be used to alter the mass of anything near it. By utilizing this "mass effect," mankind was able to develop fancy new technologies like personal Deflector Shields, Faster-Than-Light Travel and Artificial Gravity. Amongst the stars, humans found themselves to be just one sentient species amongst an entire panoply of civilization: the mono-gendered asari, the amphibian-descended salarians, the militant turians, the hard-to-hurt krogan, and more.

There have been four main titles in the series:

  1. Mass Effect was released for the Xbox 360 in November 2007 and PC in May/June 2008. The PlayStation 3 version was released in late 2012 as part of the Mass Effect Trilogy, and as a standalone digital download for the Play Station Network. Taking place in 2183, it introduces the main character, System Alliance officer Lt.Cmdr. Shepard, and the beginning of that character's journey to become the first human Spectre, an elite soldier given full support of the Citadel races to operate carte blanche in their interest. Shepard's first mission is to track down a rogue Spectre, Saren, and unravel his connection to the mysterious Reapers, ancient beings that are only known as the ones who wiped out the Protheans 50,000 years ago. Shepard is set loose in a Wide-Open Sandbox galaxy with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, in an... interesting 3rd-person-shooter-cum-RPG battle engine. They are aided by a diverse band of companions, as well as by the technology left behind by the Protheans.
  2. Mass Effect 2 was released for the Xbox 360 and PC in January 2010, and for PlayStation 3 in January 2011. In the prologue, Shepard and their crew are brutally attacked by the enigmatic alien species, the Collectors. After a two-year Time Skip covered by the opening credits, it takes up in 2185 where the militant/terrorist human group called Cerberus has rescued Shepard and tasked them to investigate the Collectors, who have been abducting entire human colonies for reasons that are unclear but believed to be related to the coming Reaper invasion. Shepard's association with Cerberus strains their relationship with both the Alliance and their previous allies, so they turn to the seedier side of the galaxy for a new team to face the Collectors. The gameplay shifted dramatically into something much more linear: it had more clearly stated levels built around cover-based shooting; vehicle travel was dropped entirely (excluding a DLC mission); and weapon types was restricted by class.
  3. Mass Effect 3 was released on all three platforms in early March 2012, with a Wii U port being released at the console's launch in November 2012. It leads to the ultimate fear: the Reapers invade the Milky Way in the year 2186 and Earth is among the first to be overwhelmed. Shepard has reunited with the Alliance and retrieved blueprints for a potential machine to defeat the Reapers they call "The Crucible." To retake Earth, and more importantly survive the Reaper invasion, Shepard must form a new team and unite the races of the galaxy to fight back and commit resources to the Crucible. In addition to wrapping up the Myth Arc of the trilogy, it continued to refine the gameplay standard set by the second game, increasing movement and combat actions as well as weapon customization to the point that BioWare felt confident including a Co-Op Multiplayer mode.
  4. Mass Effect: Andromeda was released in March 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Set around the same time as Mass Effect 2, the "Andromeda Initiative" was a colonization program to travel to the nearest galaxy, Andromeda. City-sized starships full of Human Popsicles (not to mention ones for asari, salarians, turians and krogan) go on a 600-year journey. (Because the game is essentially an interquel, BioWare were able to avoid Cutting Off the Branches of the trilogy's Multiple Endings.) The player assumes the role of Scott or Sara Ryder, Half-Identical Twins who take on a leadership position within the Initiative when their ship arrives in 2819 and things go From Bad to Worse. The game places emphasis on the Wide-Open Sandbox which BioWare had intended to implement during the original trilogy, abandoning the highly-linear maps and narrative focus that replaced it.
  5. An untitled fifth game was announced on December 10, 2020. While very little about it is currently known, in 2023 it was teased as connecting to Andromeda in some way.

The series makes heavy use of a large number of science fiction tropes. Nearly every aspect of the setting has been thoroughly thought out, with hefty amounts of technical, cultural, and historical background data provided by an Encyclopedia Exposita. (Amongst other things, the names of alien races are not capitalized—the way "human" isn't.) It manages to be simultaneously a reconstruction of the Space Opera, a highly plausible setting, and a Lovecraft Lite Cosmic Horror Story in the form of the Reapers.

Shepard, in true BioWare fashion, is customizable across the board, from gender to family background to previous military experience. The sequels allow you to transfer your personal Shepard, with the same appearance, background and choices. The Ryders are somewhat less customizable — they will always be fraternal twins, so the player cannot change their gender, and their first name is no longer selectable — but everything else is available for tweaking; in fact, the two do not even have to look like each other, and the game dynamically alters the appearance of their parents, Alec and Ellen Ryder, to reflect your choices.

The franchise is primarily a RPG, with third person shooter combat. The games combine the regenerating shields and integrated vehicle sections of Halo, the stop-and-pop cover mechanics of Gears of War and Wide-Open Sandbox exploration elements as you fly around the galaxy in your Cool Starship, the Normandy. Shooting took on a completely new dimension in the first game, however, as firearms had Bottomless Magazines (justified in-story) and were instead limited by refire rate; firing them too fast would result in Overheating and a mandatory cooldown period. The remaining games in the series have returned to a much more traditional firearms experience. RPG elements are present in the form of a Class and Level System for you and your party members, in addition to new guns and armor, while outside of combat you are able to influence the story in a lot of ways, and even transfer your story decisions to the next game. Gameplay elements, and their revisions for the sequels, saw a mixed reception.

The classes presented to you are divided up between three affinities: Combat, Tech and Biotic. Combat classes have abilities based on amplifying their weapons, armor and own reflexes to make them deal and receive loads of damage. Tech classes counter the opponents' technology (jamming their weapons, overloading their shields, sending out attack drones) and hacking mecha mooks to attack their own. Biotic classes project the eponymous mass effect with their own bodies, giving them Mind over Matter powers that are based on warping space and gravity, creating area-effect burn damage and providing biotic barriers. Shepard can choose one of three specialized classes for maximum effectiveness in one style, or one of the three hybrid classes, sacrificing the full range of options and abilities of either class type for maximum flexibility. Your own team tends to be an eclectic mix of all three and you are only allowed to take two members with you on any given mission, so choosing which ones would be helpful for the circumstances is vital. Because gameplay evolved quite a bit over the course of the trilogy, it's hard to pin down just how the classes work, but here's a brief overview:

  • Adept: Full Biotic, based on manipulating gravity and providing crowd-control. Signature powers include the stunners Stasis and Singularity, but the basics are things like Pull and Throw.
  • Soldier: Full Combat, powers are focused on dealing as much raw damage through the use of weapons and grenades, as well as maximum damage protection. Bullet Time skills and a huge arsenal are typical. The second game gave them access to many elemental bullets they could swap out quickly, letting them adapt to enemy weaknesses.
  • Engineer: Full Tech, very useful in stripping away enemy defenses and distracting them via automated turrets and drones. They can also reprogram enemy technology and (in the first game) get bonuses to unlocking minigames or (in the second game) cheaper research projects.
  • Sentinel: The Tech/Biotic combo. In the second game, they got their signature power, Tech Armor, which: doubles shields but also cooldowns, staggers nearby enemies when depleted, and lets the Sentinel lead the charge when its spells won't do the job.
  • Infiltrator: The Tech/Combat hybrid has a variety of debuffs and offensive abilities. In the second game they got their signature abilities: an Invisibility Cloak, and a Bullet Time that activates automatically when they use the scope on their Sniper Rifle.
  • Vanguard: The Biotic/Combat class. The second game gave them the signature power "Biotic Charge", a Flash Step cannonball move that also recharges their shields. This encourages them to stay in the fight.
  • Explorer: Available only in Mass Effect: Andromeda, this class is a hybrid of all three affinities, made possible by the game's decision to let players swap powers and classes on the fly. The ultimate Jack of All Stats, it also guarantees a Master of None. The Explorer Profile specifically is designed to keep you mobile, anticipating you to be a Fragile Speedster.

Like previous BioWare games, Mass Effect employs a karma meter with two moral endpoints. Rather than simply Good or Evil, however, the meter essentially measures the player's place on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism; Paragon choices move toward idealism and Renegade choices toward cynicism. Most responses tend to be either nice or mean ways of saying the same thing ("I'm sorry, but please tell me what happened" versus "Get over it and tell me what happened"), but as you climb each meter, you unlock new conversation options which can take things in a completely different direction ("I'm an Action Survivor too. You Are Not Alone!"; "Get A Hold Of Yourself Man! Quit Your Whining!"). These options also allow your character to influence people via their charisma or their intimidation factor, reflecting on the growing impact you are having on the galaxy.

  • The Paragon is the more humane, compassionate, diplomatic end of the spectrum, one who tries to solve problems and disputes as peacefully as possible and by appealing to people's better nature, or at least with the motive of protecting the innocent, but shows little if any pity towards corruption or immoral actions, believing that the ends never justify the means. Paragon dialogue also tends to take a more cooperative, egalitarian stance to the other sentient species of the galaxy and the Citadel Council. Succinctly, this path is The Fettered.
  • The Renegade is a more ruthless hero who believes in solving problems and disputes by Cutting the Knot. They lean towards the use of force and intimidation to solve problems, and lives by an "I Did What I Had to Do" philosophy, preferring to employ Combat Pragmatism wherever possible, and kill the enemy at all costs and allowing petty immoral acts to slip by to achieve the bigger goal. Renegade conversation options tend to show little regard for the council and more of a "humans first" position. To put it simply, this path is The Unfettered.

The story largely remains the same regardless of the choices that you make but the multiple methods of how Shepard works through any given scenario is carefully monitored between the games, which creates a more enriching experience as your particular choices resonate throughout the story and across the games. The railroading on dialogue choices may not allow complete freedom of choice but it helps hold the plot together: whether you choose to play Shepard nice or mean, s/he is still a hero either way.

These choices are omnipresent, as every conversation in the game is interactive and most give a chance to score Paragon and Renegade points. Yes, Paragon and Renegade: you can climb both sides of the scale simultaneously. Instead of each choice pulling you in one direction or another, there are separate meters for Paragon and Renegade, and choosing towards one does not change your position on the other. This allows much more complex characterization; there's no reason you can't play (say) a moral xenophobe who is Paragon towards humans but Renegade towards aliens, a True Neutral character who adapts to fit each situation, or even alternate every time you're given a choice. Of course, there are benefits to committing to either end; in every game but the last, there are dialogue options and even missions you can't access at all unless you have a high Paragon/Renegade score (the third unlocks options based on your total Karma Points, and adds non-flavored "Reputation" points as well). And in terms of replay value, it's kind of brilliant, since no matter what path you choose, there's always at least one other branch (sometimes more) you consciously turned away from.

And these link up with the other theme of the franchise: Continuity Porn, the Choice-and-Consequence System and the Old Save Bonus. There are plenty of NPCs you can interact with, and depending on your choices they could even die over the course of the game. If they don't, they will almost certainly appear in the next game (where, possibly, they can be killed this round). Mass Effect has hundreds of named characters, and the list of ones who don't re-appear in the next game is a lot shorter than the list of those who do; this creates a sense of not only a living, breathing universe, but the feeling that you, Commander Shepard, have some significance, some — well — mass effect on it. And these are just the casual choices — what about the ones where you decide the fates of entire sentient species? Players of the franchise are known to run two or more saved games, playing and re-playing to see how their choices impact the galaxy.

In November 2020, Bioware announced that a new Mass Effect game was in development.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a 4K remaster of the original trilogy containing all three games and almost all of their single player DLCnote  was released on May 14, 2021 for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, with forward compatibility and enhancements for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

In addition to the games, the series contains four prequel/interquel novels: Mass Effect: Revelation, Mass Effect: Ascension and Mass Effect: Retribution, written by Drew Karpyshyn, one of the writers for the games. As a result of Karpyshyn moving from working on Mass Effect to working on Star Wars: The Old Republic and subsequently leaving BioWare, the fourth novel, Mass Effect: Deception, was written by outside writer William C. Dietz. It was released on January 31, 2012.

The series also contains several comics: Mass Effect: Redemption, Mass Effect: Evolution, Mass Effect: Invasion, and Mass Effect: Homeworlds are graphic novels that consist of four issues each, while Mass Effect: Foundation is a thirteen-issue series. Mass Effect: Incursion, Mass Effect: Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Conviction are short 8 page stories and Mass Effect: Blasto: Eternity Is Forever is a one-shot comic about the show within a game (and Ascended Meme) Blasto.

There are also two iOS Games, titled Mass Effect: Galaxy and Mass Effect: Infiltrator, respectively, as well as Mass Effect: Datapad, a companion app for Mass Effect 3. An anime movie, Mass Effect: Paragon Lost was released on November 28, 2012.

A 4D motion simulator attraction based on the video games called Mass Effect: New Earth debuted at the California's Great America theme park in May 2016. The ride features characters from the original trilogy, with the voice actors reprising their roles, but does not take place canonically in the series.

In November of 2021, it was reported that Amazon was seeking to adapt the franchise into a series for Prime Video, but it is not yet known if these plans will involve adapting the games, or just be set in the universe.


The Mass Effect universe encompasses:

Games

Books

Comics
  • Redemption: A four-part mini-series starring Liara T'Soni and Feron, as they race to snatch Commander Shepard's remains from the agents of the Shadow Broker and the Collectors. Sets up the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC.
  • Incursion: A one-shot set on Omega a week before ME2. Aria T'Loak busts a deal between the Blue Suns and the Collectors, who try to acquire a bunch of humans.
  • Inquisition: Another one-shot, set on the Citadel after ME2. Councilor Udina asks Captain Bailey to investigate the head of C-Sec, Executor Pallin. Can be read here.
  • Evolution: A mini-series delving into the origins of the Illusive Man. Immediately after the First-Contact War, one Jack Harper comes to blows with the turian Arterius brothers over a Reaper artifact they had discovered during the war.
  • Conviction: A one-shot bridging the events of Paragon Lost and ME3. While Drowning His Sorrows on Omega, James Vega is hired by Admiral Anderson to bodyguard Shepard after the events of the "Arrival" DLC.
  • Invasion: A mini-series set on Omega shortly before ME3. As her station is overrun by Reaper creatures, Aria T'Loak must team up with the Cerberus General Oleg Petrovsky to fight them off. Sets up the "Omega" DLC.
  • Homeworlds: An Anthology Comic delving into the backstory of a different ME3 squadmate in each issue: James Vega grows up with an addict father and enlists with the Alliance marines with his uncle's help; Tali's Pilgrimage is derailed when she discovers Saren's agents tampering with the geth and flees to the Citadelnote ; during his Last Stand on Omega, Garrus reminisces about his father and the failure of the Archangelnote ; Liara visits the hanar homeworld to study a Prothean relic, racing Cerberus to find any means to fight the Reapersnote .
  • Blasto: Eternity Is Forever: The Defictionalization of an in-universe movie, starring Blasto, the first hanar Spectre, and his new asari partner Cerulean Star who go after the mad krogan scientist Kronus.
  • He Who Laughs Best: A one-shot showing how Joker got his job piloting the Normandy — by hijacking it on the eve of a crucial test flight.
  • Foundation: A 13-issue series showing select events of the original trilogy from the POV of Cerberus field agents, mainly Rasa a.k.a. Maya Brooks, Kai Leng, and Miranda Lawson. Also contains vignettes from the lives of Mordin, Kasumi, Zaeed, and Thane.
  • Discovery

Rides

Films
  • Paragon Lost: An anime film set during the events of Mass Effect 2 starring Lieutenant James Vega (with Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising his role) and his attempts to stop a Collectors raid on a human colony.

Other

The Mass Effect series as a whole contains the following tropes:


"It's been a good ride."
"...the best."

 
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Alternative Title(s): Mass Effect Legendary Edition

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"I am Sovereign"

While assaulting Saren's Base, Commander Shepard & his squad confront Sovereign and realize that it is in fact a Reaper, rather than a Reaper ship. Sovereign confirms this, stating that the title was given to them by the Protheans, whom the Reapers exterminated 50,000 years ago. As Sovereign states, the Reapers "are the End of Everything."

How well does it match the trope?

4.95 (19 votes)

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