Thursday 6 March 2014

Fixing ME3: Submit your ideas.


Over the years, people have been asking me to make a Fixing ME3 series, similar to my fan-fiction-like version of the Fixing ME2 video series I did with a few others. That was a big effort, and ripped out and changed a lot of lore, characters and scenes. The pulling of hair, gnashing of teeth; great fun.

There are dramatic structural issues with ME3, but it actually had a plot to follow, so I never really considered it. Looking at the middle of ME3, it wasn't a train wreck, so there's some value there. You'd simply need remove the stuff that doesn't work, and throw in the stuff that does.

So I thought, "that's easier than what I did with ME2."

So here's a question to those interested: how would you fix ME3?

A few groundrules:

  • Do not include explanations or long, wild, fanciful expositions on the existence of things that don't work (e.g. Crucible, Catalyst, Cerberus, Shepard sitting on their ass for 6 months, etc.) Remove/replace and keep going.
  • With the belief that the intro/premise and ending are fundamentally flawed (See: Bookends of Destruction), you'd need a new Beginning and Ending detailed or at least summarized.
  • Explain why such-and-such new scene or character should exist. First, describe a problem (i.e. "Big Choices don't matter, like The Rachni.") Then, explain the solution to that problem (i.e. "The Illium Asari joins the Normandy, has updates in the War Room after every plot point, etc.") This is perhaps the most important point. The best advice here is: list all the things that didn't work, and deal with the big problems in an intelligent way. Assign the meaning, drama, plot, conflict, development etc.
  • Focus on the basics. If you want to talk about game play, include the dramatic or character value (i.e. upgrading Vanguard Shepard is more than just stats and unlocking abilities, but unlocks scenes/develops their character/character class.) K.I.S.S. Don't detail your amazing turn based card game design ideas.
  • (Corollary) Things that are major problems (e.g. EMS) can be fixed/removed/replaced with appropriate details.
  • Things with plot integrity, things that work, or are part of the main plot and it's missions, should be kept/expanded upon (e.g. Geth/Quarian conflict, Miranda/Sanctuary, etc.) Don't re-write the entire story, don't change characters without an explained recourse or purpose, do not submit your epic slash novella.


I'll take the best ideas, and then edit and combine them into a coherent story that I can make into a basic video. If you'd like to narrate or provide artwork for such an idea, that's cool too.

I wouldn't mind expanding this throughout several youtube channels on a playlist, that way, multiple people can narrate and tell a story their own way, and, they can get their own traffic.

This isn't going to be as big as Fixing ME2...we have an actual plot to work with.

So, leave a comment with your ideas below.

41 comments:

  1. Hey, saw your post and actually thought that a few small changes (i.e. about 5-6 minutes of added dialogue) could justify Aria's/Omega presence in ME3 and tie it to the larger story of ME3. The explanation I give, however, is about 1900 words long. Is it good to post that much here or would I be able to send it to you in a Word file? It's not fan-fiction, BTW.

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    1. Hey prhurley,

      You can post it here.

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    2. Thanks. As I say, I'm posting what I wrote off the top of my head last night. It could probably use some more refining, but here it is (in a few parts due to the limited space allowed in comments).

      Part 1: Omega/Aria T'Loak

      When I first played ME3 I played the version without the Omega download, I always wondered why they brought Aria T’Loak’s character back, as in the non-Omega version she seems to only present you with side-quests that build up your pointless EMS score along with some Renegade/Paragon point opportunities. The Omega mission is just an extended version of this, dangling EMS in front of you if you help Aria take back Omega, with a DLC that, while interesting in giving a bit more character to Aria, is ultimately a useless sidequest to the main storyline of ME3.
      Off the top of my head, in order to keep this storyline from being thrown aside, I would propose the following:
      Wrex in ME1 of the epic battle he had with an asari super-commando he had a battle to the death with. After a big battle Wrex escaped, believing he had left the asari on the exploding ship, but instead he got a message a few months later from her saying “Better luck next time.” This indicates a grudging respect the two have, and Wrex comes across as respecting her condition that they meet for this battle in a place where there will be no civilian casualties.
      I realize she had a different name in ME1, but you can make it Aria T’Loak who, in Mass Effect 2 states she’s gone by many names in the past. She seems to deal violently only with criminals who move against her, and in some cases she’s known to help out civilians here and there while she’s ruler of Omega so this is in way consistent with the asari commando’s behavior in Wrex’s story.
      When, in the storyline of ME3, Aria is thrown out of Omega by Cerberus, she is weakened but decides to contact Wrex as he seems to be the only one she knows with any power to help her achieve an edge. Wrex answers “Hanging out at the Citadel now? I can set up a meeting with Shepard.” Once again, neither really trusts each other, but Aria is going to do anything to take back Omega (in ME3 she says it as many times, much like Wrex saying he’ll kill Fist in ME1). This would give Aria a connection to ME1 and could give us an intrigue side of Wrex that we know he’s capable of, but the ME series just wants him to be the gun-toting badass so to fix this would give more depth to his character. While his arc is pretty much finished with Tuchanka, I would recommend we place this DLC after the Tuchanka episode but before Thessia. Doing this would also show how grateful Wrex is to help out Shepard behind the scenes: he’s not just going to take his forces to earth, he’s going to help in any way he can to get not just Krogan help once Tuchanka/Palaven is sorted out but also extra forces for Shepard that can help him in the upcoming battle.


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    3. Part 2: Omega Aria/T'Loak

      Now Aria, while Shepard has helped her out in the past (i.e. the datapad back in ME2; the Patriarch in ME2), she still doesn’t completely trust him (after all, when she last met him he was working with Cerberus), so when she contacts him it’s to both show her usefulness to Shepard’s cause, which she shows when you first meet her at Purgatory on the Citadel. At the same time Aria is offering this report, perhaps, to see how far he would go to get the support she’s dangling in these initial sidequests (i.e. Eclipse/Blood Pack/Blue Suns), thus allowing her to take a chance on him in asking for his help to take back Omega later on in the game. Of course, she would not let Shepard know any of this until near the end of the Omega DLC. This actually justifies these side-quests as being related to the plot in some way, and thus would make helping Aria, not the EMS, the main motivation of the player (he/she can decline, but in order to see another part of the story they can always accept, and carry out the three missions, which would then unlock the DLC). This would give context to meeting Aria and doing her sidequests before the Tuchanka mission, but then having the Omega DLC unlock after both the sidequests and the Tuchanka mission are done.
      Once Aria meets with Shepard in the Omega DLC, she tells him/her something like “I wanted to see how far you would go to gain my help, if you would even give me help in the first place since all I repaid you with was some half-destroyed contraband on that shithole of a planet [HERE WE CAN MAKE REFERENCE TO THAT SIDEQUEST IN ME2]. But now I need to ask a favor of you.”
      Shepard can then either say “yes” or say “wait, didn’t I just sort out your problems with those three groups before? Why should I help you now?” Here Aria states that they were all part of her plan to take back Omega, she couldn’t take it back if there were problems within the three gangs (and here we can talk about how Archangel/Garrus caused enough chaos to make the three gangs have enough infighting to make the collective forces of Omega vulnerable enough to attack by Cerberus). However, considering that the three gangs were kicked out of Omega just like she was, she wouldn’t need just their loyalty but also to convince them that she has an edge in taking back Omega and that is Shepard, their hated enemy. The three groups would’ve relished the fact that Shepard is working for Aria and would be forced to help them, so in the initial sidequests on the Citadel she uses Shepard to help not just them but also her.

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    4. Part 3: Omega/Aria T'Loak. Here we can show the usual Ice Queen Aria as somewhat vulnerable, in response lashing out at Shepard. She tells Shepard that she is giving him much more help than he ever gave her. In response to Shepard’s “why should I help you take back Omega?”, here we could have Aria say something like “Oh, so you’ve helped me how exactly when you were with Cerberus? A f---ing datapad? Enabling the self-delusion of some has-been, narcissistic old Krogan?” Aria can also point out that if it weren’t for her, Shepard’s friend/best friend/boyfriend—Garrus—would be dead right now, so she’d like some payback. Aria can also retort that he has only resolved a few domestic squabbles for her in the ME3 sidequests, but she needs his help and if she gets it, he’ll have not just a few flotillas but rather the strength of all Omega to help him in his quest to defeat the Reapers.
      Here we can hit on one of the major themes of Aria’s character: a lack of trust for others. Aria states/implies in ME2 that one of her biggest issues is with trust. In selling her idea to Shepard, she betrays the fact that she manipulated him, and in doing so, she states that it was a way to prove she could trust him with the mission of accompanying her to Omega because right now she can’t trust anyone and with his boy scout record/willingness to get the job done, Shepard seems to be the only one to try to rely on in all of this. Shepard asks how she could be so sure, and Aria could say “Well, Urdnot Wrex set up our meeting in the first place, and he told me what I did with it was entirely up to me. Well, either this is his way of finishing the job all those years back by having him send you to me, or perhaps you helped him put aside his own crap enough so that it might be that he wants to help me.” Aria is not looking for love, adulation, etc., she is looking for someone to trust. Here we can introduce the idea that Aria is being forced to take big steps/have faith in others to help her out, which is important considering that she takes great pride in not relying on others for help. She always has to be the leader and the doer, never the follower, and indeed this whole vulnerability can be played up. She is someone that refuses to be a damsel, but nevertheless ends up as one (after all, isn’t that what the DLC Omega is, once you get to the bottom of things?). But she is also able to still remain a strong character despite this vulnerability, and it’s not a “Take Omega for me” which, when playing the DLC, you get the feeling that this is, but rather “help me take back Omega.”
      This also keeps Shepard from being a brick as he’s actually allowed to express his/her emotion over their relationship in the past with Aria, and it ties in the whole thing with Wrex’s gratitude that he was trying to set this up behind the scenes.
      The rest of the DLC could play out as per usual, but the whole story can be tied around Aria and Shepard’s willingness to trust one another. Indeed, this whole theme of trust would actually justify the presence in the DLC of the female Turian, because with their romantic relationship in the past, Aria was, on some level forced to trust but got scared of the whole thing, as it was new to her/something she hadn’t experienced in hundreds of years, and she allowed it to be thrown aside as not trusting anyone was more familiar to her. When she loses her ex towards the end of the DLC, Aria is motivated to throw herself into a suicidal charge against the villain/Russian/supergeneralgenius. When Shepard rescues her, however, the lesson she learns is that despite her previous doubts she can trust Shepard to look out for her, and is willing to go all in with the forces of Omega in return.

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    5. Part 4: Omega/Aria T'Loak

      We could also throw in a couple of lines of dialogue with regard to Shepard not being allowed to take any of his Normandy crew with him and here we could have some lines from Aria like “YOUR crew?! Hell, no, Shepard! If someone like Massani were still running with you, then perhaps, but the last f---ing thing we need is your boy Garrus Vakarian revisiting Omega to start messing things up just like he did last time! And yes, I managed to put two and two together on that one. No, I want you all to myself…”
      I realize this might be going overboard for a DLC, but it could actually justify its existence (as well as Aria’s) in the plot with only about what I’m guessing to be 5-6 minutes of dialogue in the story, this is a pretty small fix for a comparatively large problem (after all, people have paid extra money for this story). And it can build on one of the whole themes of Mass Effect, this idea that everyone has to put aside their baggage/differences to trust one another and work together to defeat a Great Evil, and can consequently be included within this overall context that exists within the game. Also to do so would tie Aria into the story better, and we can see your choices matter in ME2, as if you didn’t help her with the datapad/Patriarch, none of this DLC (or indeed, the initial sidequests for Aria at the Citadel in ME3) would be open to you.
      On a separate note, I don’t think that Paragon/Renegade in ME3 actually works. To be honest, I think that it’s simplified to a point where it’s relatively meaningless by the final game and we end up clicking on left or right symbols, in some sadly Pavlovian response, merely to watch some different cutscenes which, in many cases, have no overall effect on the story. Indeed, as I’ve just argued for Trust as a factor in Mass Effect 3, I thinking that the P/R system should be replaced with which characters in the game trust you more than others depending on what decisions you make, something more like the Dragon Age series. This, rather than EMS, could work in building your support so that you can defeat the Reapers (a victory that hopefully delivers a large cutscene of all the people you helped, including Aria and her forces, showing up to save your ass, which is what I didn’t see at all in the first game, but I’ll stop now).

      Now, these are just ideas I’m throwing out there, but I think that it could contribute somewhat to the story. Let me know if you think this could work and I could provide a few more which hopefully won't take up so much space on the computer screen!

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    6. Oh, and one more thing:

      In convincing you to help her take back Omega, she could also say that you owe her as when you were saving Archangel, you managed to help destabilize the crime syndicates upon which Aria depends to run the place, therefore you owe her as you played just as much a part as Garrus did in helping her to lose the place.

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  2. I'm very hapy to see you'll be doing this. Me3 was in all a great experience and that made it's failing even more painful. Here are my thoughts:

    - Shepard chosses side: cerberus, alliance or council (if too complex, default is one of three)
    - No monsters, you fight indoctrinated troops (alliance, turians, etc...)
    - Crucible is ok, but it doesn't always have to be built and has a high chance of being destroyed (perhaps it gets completed only in very narrow range of variables if ever)
    - Shepard must discover a way to destroy or stop the reapers by investigating citadel keepers, finding a way to communicate with them (my preference would be that reapers retreat into dark space, their intent still unknown, their existance still a threat to the galaxy).

    Well, these are my thoughts that stuck with me as logical development of ME story. Something I sort of expected of ME3.

    Good luck, and thanks for all your work. It's very entertaining and educational!

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  3. Ok, here's my... thing.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B30SDjIOLD9bNzFKTzY2SXlEb3c/edit?usp=sharing

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    1. Whew. As expected. Nice work Mornegroth.

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    2. I really liked how you provided your fixes in sections and gave various alternatives, took plenty of variables and choices, and provided a more than one satisfactory ending. There's just one with the Ark thing I'd like to point out. I like the idea, but I can't believe no other civilization in the millions of years that have passed ever tried that plan and succeded. From what we can see, either:
      1. The they didn't think of that plan.
      2. The pods didn't work or ran out of energy.
      3. The pods were discovered and destroyed by the reapers.
      4. They were not able to rebuild their civilization.
      5. They rebuilt their civilization but again failed to stop the reapers.

      If the Ark proyect isn't viable that leaves the ending of the game with only the Shield option (if I remember correctly), and I think we can agree that one ending with some variables (failing / winning with heavy losses and many extinct species / winning with only a few lost species).
      After saying that I ask: what makes this cycle special? What do they have that will make lead them to succeed? These questions could be great for further analysis of this fix.

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  4. I would say to continue from your Top 20 Things Wrong With Mass Effect 3 videos. I'm sure you've thought of these or someone has suggested them already, but here I go!

    -James Vega has nothing to add to the story, nor does he have anything to add to gameplay. I've heard people say that he's the human equivalent of a Krogan teammate for this game, so here is my question? Why not have a Krogan? Even if it's a random Krogan that we pick up, it would make a lot more sense than James Vega considering you cure the genophage (or not) and the theme of this series is to unite the galaxy against a common enemy. Or what about Wrex or Grunt? These characters would have more impact on us than some random buff-nut.
    -Hey! Remember how Liara is the Shadow Broker? She should be giving us the majority of our missions since she is the most powerful information broken in the galaxy. Since she knows all the dirty little secrets of the galaxy, we should be able to use that to our advantage to gain valuable intel or resources. Like... the Krogan female on Surkesh. Or... getting the drop on Cerbeus every single time they got the drop on Shepard. Or... relaying communications throughout the galaxy since the Reapers should have taken the Citadel and locked the relay network FIRST. And remember Feron? He should play a bigger part as an informant or squadmate that can or can't be trusted. Perhaps he could be indoctrinated and aim to sabotage the Normandy. None of this clone Shepard crap.
    -ALL OF THE CHARACTERS FROM ME2 SHOULD GET MORE THAN A SIDE MISSION AND A CHEAP GOODBYE AT THE END OF ME3. Since Bioware spent an entire game making us care a ton about these characters, they should get more to do in ME3. Perhaps this is a good time to get them back on your ship/squad with a massive war-to-end-all wars going on. Maybe it's not good enough to have Zaeed in one crappy mission, then one lousy cutscene (especially after teaching him about teamwork and loyalty in the last game)
    -Get rid of the Crucible. This is a given for me, but I didn't want to assume that you'd add it. The magical microphone plot device needs to go in exchange for something a bit more practical. Or something that we're familiar with... like the Klendagon weapon. No need to get a new plot device when we can just reverse engineer this defunct weapon and integrate it onto as many ships as possible. "We can't defeat the Reapers conventionally" my ass. We did it in the first game, and some other species did it thousands of years ago with this weapon.
    -Can we get rid of Cerberus as the main opposing force? I really disliked this in a game where we should be fighting the Reapers. Despite how TIM feels about you blowing up the Collector base, Cerberus should be trying to stop the Reapers in their own way. I get that TIM is indoctrinated, but there has to be a better way.
    -And pretty much everything everyone else here has said!

    That's all I have for now. I can't wait for your new series!

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  5. Hello smudboy,

    I've been following your videos for over a year now and they really helpt keeping my cool about this whole mass effect fiasco.
    Regarding the plot fixes: Would you prefer a giant list of proposed changes or a confusing flow chart detailing decisions and consequences?

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    1. Hey chief,

      Key word being "confusing", so I'll settle for the giant list, thanks.

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  6. Ive always had an idea that would have left a rather open ending with more opportunities for sequels while giving a proper end to the shepard arc

    The Outline of my idea is that the Crucible is a black hole bomb that was supposed to be installed on the Citadel after the Reapers went back into dark space. Whatever race developed it realized that the reaper numbers and their surprise attack coupled with the isolation tactic will always destroy any hope of beating them by brute force alone.

    The idea would also go along with the protheans doing research on the keepers since we now know that they also had the crucible plans. Whatever race wanted to implement the crucible on the Citadel would have also done research on the Keepers and how they function/maintain the station and how they might use them/keep them from dismantling the Crucible when docked.

    The way it was supposed to work is that the moment the Citadel relay is activated by the Reapers in dark space so will the bomb resulting that the Reaper Army would fly into a black hole that either destroys all of them or at the very least a large portion of the army.

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    1. Everything up to the point of the beam should stay the same since too much of it is already broken:

      - Your group runs towards the beam but they all get killed by Harbinger (including Anderson)
      - You manage to escape
      - Sad music + last words before shepard does another run
      - Manages to make it through right before they turn it off
      - Exit of the beam is the miniature relay that we saw in ME1. (This would then imply that they modified it to their advance and might also imply that they knew about the Conduit from “insert reaper pawn here” and most likely took the original out)
      - Shepard is stuck in a processing facility but then uses his swiss omni tool (or power) to break out of
      - Shepard then heads to the Elevators in order to reach the Citadel Control systems (just like in ME1).
      - We get a close look of a reaperized and lifeless Citadel
      - Shepard gets there and Tim is waiting for him.
      - We get the same rambling as in the game and then fight/kill him.
      - We get a second form with Harbinger taking over who still doesn't give us any real info about the reapers itself (I personally like to ignore the Leviathan Events since it was nothing more than a story patch to make their shit work)
      - Shepard fights Timinger and kills him
      - Shepard uses the ME1 hack to open up the Citadel for the crucible to dock and activates the automated citadel defenses in order to fight off the approaching reapers and help defend the crucible
      - Crucible docks and Vendetta shows up at the Control Unit
      - Shepard goes “lets activate and end this” and Vendetta goes “the crucible wont destroy the reapers”
      - Slam in the face and he tells Shepard about what the crucible seems to do and that it wasn't supposed to be used like this
      - Shepard is stunned realizing that they put all their hopes and resources into a device that wont save them
      - Vendetta then says that there might be a chance of them using it to their advantage and that it could force the reapers to retreat but they will lose earth in the process
      - Vendetta implies that (considering how big of an army you got together) XXX% of the actual known reaper force are currently at earth along with harbinger
      - He implies that if this device is fired now the reapers will lose XXX% amount of their forces along with their leader in one instant and it might force them to retreat for the time being
      - yada yada yada Shepard tells the fleets to leave and fires the Crucible

      As for the endings themselves it would pretty much depend on how big of an army you had.

      Small army: The Reapers only lose a few troops at earth and Harbinger manages to flee/almost none of your army manages to escape/Cycle continues after the Reapers regroup

      Normal army: The Reapers lose a lot of troops including Harbinger/Reapers retreat for the time being into reaper dominated spaces/a good amount of your army escapes and we see them continuing to fight the reapers for decades to come until they finally seem to retreat back to dark space

      Huge army: The Reapers lose a huge amount of troops including Harbinger/the majority of your army escapes/Reapers immediately seem to drop everything they do and retreat back to dark space

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  7. When will you stop checking the submissions? I'd like to replay Mass Effect 3 to check before actually trying to fix it.

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  8. A small suggestion off the top of my head, is to remove the "Shepard overhears random conversations around the citadel and then goes on some galaxy exploring mission to get object A to return to said person for...something. Simple fix ---if a mission to retrieve an object, objective or war effort is truly critical to the war effort, have the person or organization make a request to the Specter Office and they and/or Samantha Traynor can filter them for the most important requests to Shepard to follow up on as he/she desires. Shepard is trying to resolve a conflict of galactic genocide---seeing mail for erectile dysfunction or similar nonsense only wants me to have a talk with Traynor about her duties as communication officer.

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  9. A lot of the issues were covered in your bookends of destruction videos which I will reference a bit for my fixes. This is all assuming that ME2 is still the train wreak it is.

    The beginning problems: Axe the whole thing, it puts too much focus on the action and combat mechanics rather than the story. When I first played ME3 at launch, I thought that Hackett was indoctrinated due to his silence (Anderson: "Why haven't we heard from Hackett?") and always being the head of the Crucible and was waiting for a plot twist that never happened due to the just how bad the intro was. Also, it makes no sense to start the game with the Reapers attacking with the 6 month warning being used for absolutely nothing. As for James...I think he's kind of superfluous but I'm torn whether to axe him or not.

    The beginning fixes: I love your idea of having the game start with a trail of Shepard's past! I would have that set a month or two after Arrival/end of ME2 and the Reaper's arrival to Earth/the galaxy as a whole wouldn't happen until the middle of the game. Shepard is on trial for working for Cerberus and, if you played Arrival, the events of Arrival. The trail would be people bringing up your past decisions and would focus on dialogue choices. Parts of the trail can be broken up with sense of Shepard in jail with his defense and his guard, James, where Shepard can talk to them about how he's doing in the trial and gets to know James here. If you did Arrival, it's difficult to let the Alliance set you free but Anderson and Hackett will free you in the background should you fail; other things can affect this such as Spectre status, Anderson's Council status. After the trail, Shepard gets a retrofitted but incomplete Normandy and Shepard gets sent on a lead that Liara finds in the Shadow Broker's files that is in Batarian space. The lead is on a Batarian colony that's secretly working the Leviathan of Dis, indoctrinated Batarians are the enemy and we find another object Rho that Shepard uses along with data from the Leviathan of Dis to present to the council. Shepard also finds out that the Reapers are enclosing on the Batarian homework and has the choice to send a warning to them or leave them to the Reapers in hopes of delaying their forces. This later results in more ships to fight the Reapers if warned or Batarians not joining forces.

    The game starts similar the the first part of ME3 with trying to build an alliance with the Krogan and trying to cure the genophage.

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    1. Here are a few issues that need fixing due to my changes and just in general from ME3.

      The enemies problem: Cerberus should not be the primary enemy.

      The enemies solution: This part is hard since Shepard should be focusing on diplomacy and building alliances, not killing them. The beginning would have extremist who, despite the Reaper threat, think the Krogan genophage should not be cure and/or should be eradicated and/or are indoctrinated agents. As the game progresses, extremist become less and indoctrinated and reaperfied enemies become the norm. Cerberus enemies are only used for failed dealing with Cerberus.

      The Hub problem: The Citadel should not be the only HUB since it makes the galaxy feel small.

      The HUB fix: Homeworld planets should also serve as a HUB, including pre-reaper Earth. HUB's become unavailable as Reapers invade the galaxy. This also gives players a sense of perspective and wonder of other species.

      ME2 Squadmates Problem: As the galaxy's best [whatever], they should have more importance than just one mission before walking off stage. Yes, this includes having a more signification outcome/consequence for choosing Morinth over Samara, like the option to having the choice or not Smudboy. Character's absents or presents should have a real impact to the missions and parts of the story they're involved in, not just having a cheap knock off plot replacement. (*cough* Geth-VI *cough*) Also, some ME2 character should be optional permanent squadmates as some characters don't have a good reason for not joining Shepard on their ship, hell, Zaeed just hangs out on the Citadel after his mission and gives no reason for not riding along in the Normandy.

      ME2 Squadmates Fix: Characters become temporary squadmates for missions they're involved in or become at the very least become a useful fourth squadmate that actually fights along side your team. Have some squadmates join the Normandy as optional additions, for parts of the story, and managing where and what some of these characters should be doing as part of the war effort. ME2 love interest such as Miranda, Jack, and Jacob that didn't become or as part of the narrative can't becoming part of the Normandy, will give Shepard the option to join them as part of their squad in the final part of the game. ME2 characters being alive or dead should have a real impact on the missions or in Grunt's case, having not awaken him should have some resolution.

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    2. Renegade and Paragon choices problems: I've noticed that renegade options are the more violent, evil-ish options though not evil choices. However, throughout the game, I have never seen an outcome of a renegade choice effect the narrative in a positive way. For a game that wants to make players make hard choices, choosing the "hard choice" doesn't seem to pay off in the long run...ever. Kill Rachni Queen = No additional/negative war assets, Let the council die = less WA, Kill Werx = less WA, Not curing the genophage = less WA. The one and only one, exception seem to be keeping the collector base that only amounts to 10 additional war assets. The only other option to selectively make a renegade option pay off is if you destroyed the Geth Heretics and then chose to save the Quarians over the Geth. As the opposite of renegade, paragon choices don't ever seem to have any negative consequence. Keeping shady or criminal people alive doesn't come back to bite Shepard in the ass.

      R/P Choices fix: Make some past renegade options have a bigger pay off over paragon options and make some paragon options have negative consequences. An example of hard choices that could have a benefited from this is the Bringing Down the Sky DLC, letting Balak go and saving the hostages might have increased production of Terra Nova (somehow) in the war effort but allowed Balak to sabotage other colonies before dealing with him again greater than the benefits of saving the hostages. Likewise, killing Balak kept the war effort from taking a dip and you didn't have to waste time dealing with Balak later on. Combining the choice with allowing Charn to live could have also mixed up the choice benefits (lets say Charn learns that terrorism does not help the Batarian cause and convinces others of it) such as Charn alive, Balak dead = ++, Charn dead, Balak dead = neutral, Charn dead, Balak alive = -, Charn alive, Balak alive = -. This can make for a more fulfilling choices and give players a surprise at more unforeseeable consequences, especially if multiple choices interact together to change consequences similar to Conrad Verner's Dark Energy Dissertation.

      Time Problem: There really is no sense of how much time has passed in the game. Aside from some optional missions being "timed," there isn't much a sense of being press for time as the galaxy is crumbling around you. How much time takes places between the start of ME3 and the end? A few days, weeks, months? In that time, Shepard only slept three times? (unless you played Citadel DLC, where Shepard sleeps and is not affected by his PTSD)

      Time Fixes: Create a sense of urgancy by having a time limit before the Reapers start attacking the galaxy proper, making more missions time sensitive, maybe even having to choose between two mission while only having a vague idea of which one's outcomes will help Shepard's cause more. Have only time to do side mission before the main story takes over, similar to ME2 but afterwards, it is no longer possible to start some or all side missions that were available. Maybe before the start of every mission, have a time stating how many days/weeks before the Reapers attack the whole galaxy/how long after the Reapers started to hit the whole galaxy.

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    3. Wow, this is longer than I though it would be. I will try to be as brief as I can.

      Changes to Krogan alliance: Reapers aren't around the whole galaxy yet and are on the fringes of Batarian space. New object Rho is being worked on by select scientist as the purpose of these objects are Reaper beacons to subtly guide primitive civilizations along the technology they wanted and allow Reapers to determine when civilizations are ready for harvest. It is presumed that there's one hidden on every home world. Turian's recognize important of Krogans to fight the Reapers and want to form alliance, Krogans want a cure, Salairans don't want to make a cure. Story is similar but enemies are extremist Salarians and Turians with bad blood. Some opposition on Tuchunka is are mistrusting Krogans. Mordin/Padok, Wrex/Wreve, Eve's involvement is mostly the same, give Grunt more participation. During the last mission where the genophage can be cured, the main opposition are indoctronated Salarian, mistrusting krogan clans, and previously unseen tough wild life and thresher maws. choices are the same with the addition of being able to convince the Salarians that curing the genophage is the right thing to do, determined by dialouge and past choices [saved the council, Rachni choice (?), Wrex alive, Mordin alive, Eve alive (lack of data kills her earlier.)]

      After the genophage events, time runs out and Shepard reports to Arcturus Station where they see the footage from Earth as the skies turn black with thousands of Reapers before the footage cuts off. If Anderson was not picked for the Council, he is on Earth, status unknown; if Anderson is councilor, Udina was on Earth, escaped but is indoctrinated. From the pattern, the Reapers are working their way towards the Citadel, conquering the civilizations on their way (Earth and Khar'shan.) Start the Geth Quarian missions to gather their forces to defend the Citadel as it controls all the relays.

      Changes to the Geth Quarian conflict: Similar but no Geth VI or relatable Geth character which miss out on Legion initiated missions. At the end of conflict, a fourth choice is available if Project Overlord was completed with the choice to leave David there, found Dr. Archer and had him give you the data from the experiment, talked to Daro'Xen before hand and convinced her to do the project with her brilliant mind which will result in ending the conflict by having the Quarians in full control of the Geth. This gives the player another option to end the conflict and gives Project Overlord a purpose.

      Citadel attack changes: Shepard gets a message from Councilor Anderson/Udina about indoctrinated forces attacking the citadel, Thane dies during conflict protecting the Councilor. Indoctrinated non-councilor Udina will be among the casualties. This could work as an introduction to a villain that isn't Kai Lang but maybe an important character from Shepard's past that has been indoctrinated and enhanced or a personified version of Harbinger but I don't know how or if a personified Harbinger would work.

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    4. After this, I don't have much structure of how to get to the end. Just some ideas.

      -Convincing Cerberus to join the cause despite it having to put alien interest head of human interest in the short term.

      -Forming alliance with the Asari government and the outlaws of the Traverse? Maybe resolution of a lack of purpose of the Traverse?

      -Involving the non-council races more?

      -Conflict with Council and Krogans if Rachni Queen Survives. No such missions or conflicts if Rachni Queen was killed.

      -There should be more wonder about the Citadel, its importance, and maybe shed some light about the mystery of the Keepers.

      -Javik recruitment isn't available until the Reapers are close to attacking Earth and are the primary enemy in the level, not Cerberus.

      -EDI does not need a sexbot body; this would make any romantic relationship with Joker more interesting as it challenges what it means to be an individual without a traditional body as organics know it.

      -Liara as the Shadow Broker should have more meaning.

      -No Leviathans, Rachni Queen Reaper Construct, Maya Brooks, Shepard Clone, Child, pointless dreams, Starchild.

      -Studying object Rho, Cerberus data, Shadow Broker data, other alien scientist, data from certain missions will eventual reveal the Citadel is the key to stopping the Reapers...somehow. Maybe a Crucible device of some sort.

      -Reaper's motives have something to do with the increasing of chaos in the galaxy as a whole with dark matter similar to entropy. Organics not being able to cease their own chaos among themselves and others cannot see past there own chaos to prevent contributing to the dark matter chaos so they are eliminated. Those compatible are "uplifted" into a nation that can see the chaos and want to bring order. Humans are believe to be different since Shepard is thought to have seen past the limited chaos as they were able to defy their order in no way they have ever seen thus making a better Reaper to bring order to the chaos. This is close to that leaked ending but as a whole I think the Reaper's intentions don't have to make sense complete sense as we're not suppose to be able to understand their logic as a whole since they're are above mortals.

      -Endings should include giving in to the Reapers, defeating them conventionally with heavy losses or near extinction, low losses but having to permanently shut down the mass relays. Character endings should be included for surviving characters, similar to Fallout New Vegas where the character narrates their own outcomes.

      I'm sure I can come up with detailed ideas about where to put individual characters but I'll stop since I can be up all night and fill up your page with my ramblings. This is already way too lengthy than I actually wanted to convey.

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  10. My thought is rather than the galaxy working to build the Crucible, they should be working on building new weapons capable of bypassing Mass Effect fields. It goes back to ME1, where Sovereign tells Shepard that they deliberately left behind artifacts to force the galaxy's civilizations to develop along the paths they desired. The Reapers are masters of the mass effect. To survive, the galaxy needs to reinvent themselves into something the Reapers don't already have a counter to.

    They already have small scale versions of some of these things: Thanix cannons, disruptor torpedoes, sabotage charges for personal shields. I could imagine Shepard coordinating with other races to develop and deploy bigger and better weapons against the Reapers. Perhaps investigating weapons that worked against them before and improving on them like the mass driver that took out the Derelict Reaper. Maybe even find an alternative means of travel than the relay network, though that might be pushing it.

    In the end, victory, failure, or a mix of the two (not to mention what form it takes) would depend on how many devices the galaxy manages to complete and deploy by endgame. I think it would sound a lot better than deploying a single Reaper odd-switch you need their permission to use.

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  11. Beginning of the game--Shephard is a Specter. What authority does the Systems Alliance even have over him? IF Shephard is to be put on trial for the events of Arrival, shouldn't that be done by the Council? What authority does the SA even have over Shephard anymore?

    Instead, just have him their on Earth for a meeting to discuss the events of ME 2, his alliance with Cerberus and what he found out, why he's back from the dead (maybe Shephard is volunteering to some experiments to figure out how they did it), the discovery of the Reaper corpse, etc. Then the attack happens.

    Team him up with a new soldier, and have Shephard give the exposition to the new guy, rather than having him ask the obvious questions and have Anderson answer them. Let Shephard know what's going on.

    Let Shephard, rather than Anderson, state the plan of "we need to get allies," since it's possibly what a Paragon Shephard has been all about the past two games.

    Cerberus--give them a BS "reason" for what they CLAIM to be doing--some kind of PR. Perhaps keep Miranda or some other characters from ME2 as their voice, and you can gather evidence that proves what they're really up to, and allow you to TALK with them and ARGUE with them until you convince the "good" Cerberus to join up with you and turn on TIM.

    Crucible--ugh. This just has to go. I don't think this is salvageable without a lot more exposition and introducing it in the first game.

    Bring Harbinger back as the main villain. He's already established in ME 2 as having an obsession with Shephard, and he's a REAPER.

    Instead of the hologram boy, have Shephard enter into the Reaper mind (much like he did with the Geth) and talk/argue with Harbinger if you wanted to end the war with dialogue.

    Battle for Earth. Turn this into a planet wide (er...city wide?) Suicide Mission from ME2. Let Shephard assign various allies and armies to specific tasks--Krogan do X, Rachni do Y, we humans will do Z, while the Turians stay here and guard the base. Or, whatever. Let us see our allies do awesome and cool things, either in actual game play or in cut scenes. Let us have made "wrong" decisions. Perhaps something like curing the Genophage is the "wrong" decisions, and the Salarians don't help with the Battle of Earth. As such, not having all the allies or the right mix can make the final assault harder or easier based on who is supporting you. Let our decisions have consequences, and don't be afraid to make morally right choices be the strategically wrong ones.

    Don't have much to add to the final part of the game, other than 86 the kid completely and let us talk with Reapers one on one to try and convince them to leave. Maybe let Shepherd point out the hollowness of their existence--all they do is kill and reproduce. Encourage them to head off into the wider Universe and explore and discover or something along those lines.

    Sorry, these are just my half-formed random thoughts. Haven't played the game in a while. But I really wanted to participate, since I love your videos.

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  12. Kai Leng--assuming you want/need a "dragon"/mini-boss for TIM (who being the main bad guy is a flaw, but I want to minimize how disruptive any fix is), make these indoctrinated super-assassin into someone Shepherd already knows. The Vrimire survivor would be perfect, but any of your crew members from ME 2 (even those that died could work, Cerberus does have resurrection tech, after all) would work. This makes this character have meaning--Shepherd can be horrified and shocked to see them, the player can try to talk them down and convert them to their side, they function as a nice dark mirror of Shepherd...there's a TON you could do with that character if you used ANYONE Shepherd had met over the previous two games rather than some random dude you had never seen before, and don't meet till halfway through the third game.

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  13. Have the Normandy destroyed in your escape from Earth. Shepard is there giving a briefing of what happened in the Collector Base to justify what he did, then the Reapers attack. Then, you have to go to Mars and scrounge up parts to build SR3, and through the course of the game, you can swap parts to improve Normandy performance for a space combat segment. Some parts give better firepower, increase speed, barriers, and armor, or have point defense GARDIAN lasers against smaller craft while the Thanix Cannons and Javelin torpedoes are prepped against Reapers themselves. Story mode segments are Starfox-style rail shooters when trying to land on a planet, but on other story objective and random encounter space battles, the viewpoint and control will be fully 3D ala Rogue Leader. There would even be an upgrade later on that allows the Normandy to transform into a combat mech that can take on Reapers with massive firepower ala Gundam/Transformers style. Whether you want a larger Normandy that's literally a small-scale Dreadnought or a small and fast one like the Millennium Falcon or Arwing, or somewhere in between, is up to you. You can also determine what type of crew you will have aside from party members, whether or not you want Alliance Marines, Cerberus troops, of Shadow Broker troops; troops from the other alien species, or a mix of all of them.

    BRING THE MAKO BACK FOR GROUND BATTLES. Also, if you upgrade the Normandy for Mech format, you can have that land and fight.

    Also, the Shadow Broker Network and Cerberus are your allies. You can visit the Shadow Broker flagship on Halgalaz and TIM's base in the Cronos Station, and they both give you missions that increase your XP and military assets; TIM's missions are more Renegade and pro-human while the SB missions from Liara are more paragon and pro-alien. There's a lot of them, so you CAN do them all, but that'll be very exhausting and long. Liara's idealism will contrast with TIM's pragmatism but they will both routinely send support for Shepard whether it be reinforcements or gear. (For example, you can swap the Mako with an Atlas Mech that has a boost and fly function to speed through the battlefield.)

    A small renegade faction of Cerberus under Maya Brooks splits off because they're A) pissed off that TIM is working with Liara and the Citadel Council, and B) lured by the rewards the Reapers promise them, such as having the strongest of Cerberus survive as the new Human-Reaper, (with the Reapers implying there will be more than one) as well as the Reapers having indoctrinated them. They will take the place Cerberus has in ME3. The Reapers also indoctrinate plenty of Terminus System and Ciadel Space leaders to get their followers to come over to their side, Saren/Benezia style. So not only is Brooks going to be on your tail, but also Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse, as well as rogue elements from Alien and Alliance forces. Ganar Wrang, Vido Santiago, and Jona Sederis are all optional bosses you can take down for XP and resources.

    As for story plot lines, contact me for more in Youtube. HolyknightVader999.
    God bless. Peace out.

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  14. Additional thoughts:

    1) Explore Shepherd more as a character, specifically on two issues.

    A) Is he (I’m defaulting to male, even though I played FemShep) fighting for Humanity/Earth, or is he fighting for the Galaxy as a whole? A really neat “subplot” of ME1 was “what did Shepherd identify with--his rank in the Alliance, or his position as a Spectre?” You can do with this with just a few conversations.

    B) His role as a leader. Shepherd is a soldier, probably the best in the Galaxy at this point. If you need a hard target taken out by a small squad, he is THE guy to do it. He might even be good at leading a larger force. But, at this point, the Galaxy as a whole is looking to him to lead them in this fight. Most of the other races have no idea who Hackett is--the do know Shepherd, and they trust him. He has, after all, already saved them once from the Reapers that everyone knows about. How does he feel about this? He should have an arc taking him from “I’m just a soldier” to being Eisenhower in WWII. Let him have cut scenes with boring and argumentative meetings, in which he is bored and frustrated; as soon as a call comes in to hit a Cerberus base or a rescue a Salarian scientist, he jumps at the chance. In a way, to avoid his greater responsibilities. Let his friends (Garrus, Tali, Liara, possibly Samara and/or the Kaiden/Ashley) speak with him about it, and let the player describe what they think Shepherd is feeling/thinking about these greater responsibilities.

    Which brings me to my second point--why is Shepherd running around doing all these things. Well, because:

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    1. 2) The Reapers shut down the Relay network in the opening. That’s their plan from ME1--shut down the relays, and harvest at their leisure. They USUALLY begin with the Citadel, but since that failed and it’s heavily defended and ready for them, they just start with Earth (or wherever) and ignore it. They just use the local Relay to send out the shutdown signal, and only they can use the Relay network. Well, them and the Normandy. Why the Normandy? Because it has a freakin’ Reaper IFF installed! They did NOT see that coming, but probably write it off as just one ship--what can it do, after all?

      Well, Harbinger knows, so he's the guy who always shows up during the scanning missions. He's still obsessively trying to hunt down Shepherd. He has "marked" you as his equal and hates you all the more for it.

      So, Shepherd and his crew are the only ones who can run around and do all these crazy things. Why Shepherd instead of another Spectre? Because, again, everyone knows Shepherd and trusts him--he HAS to be the guy to go to all the home worlds and talk to everyone and get them on board.

      Now, this changes the plan. In previous Bioware games, they weren't afraid to change the plan halfway through. For example, in ME1, the plan was “arrest/kill Saren.” It wasn't till later in the game that the “stop SOVEREIGN” became the main plot. So, the initial plan is to gather all the forces you can, and find a ship that can carry them from the Citadel to Earth (we’ll keep that part, even if it only makes semi-sense). Now, which ship you are looking for varies with what you did in ME2, but it always points to Cerberus (no point in making more levels/content than you need, after all). If you saved the Collector base, then you are trying to find the Collector ship (which Cerberus salvaged and rebuilt). If you blew everything up, you plan on using the dead Reaper, but you need Cerberus tech to protect everyone from indoctrination and control the damn thing.

      They’re the only two ships big enough for something like this and can still travel through the Relays.

      So, each major mission ends with you bringing a small group of elite troops of each race and their leader to the Citadel, in the hope of getting them and the Citadel fleet into one of these massive ships to get a small force through the Relays, with the intent of activating the Conduit or some other super weapon.

      Of course, this falls apart when the Reapers grab the Citadel, and teleport it to Earth. BUT, at this point, you can use the Ilos relay to sneak into the Citadel, track down and unify your allies, and then launch a station wide “suicide mission” to activate the Conduit, which isn't a child but allows the user to enter the Reaper consciousness and then you talk to and reason and argue with Harbinger.

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  15. Dear Smudboy,

    Awesome take down of all Mass Effect, plot holes, recons, and literally a universe of other major problems. You have forever increased the quality and consistency of my own efforts to write fiction.

    Now I have a fix for ME3, but its 10,000 characters long, so to ask the question your first poster asked, where would I be able to send it to you in a Word file?

    However while I assure you that my fix for ME3 is quite interesting, and I think you will find it well worth reading, allow me to take a different tack and pose to you a very simple idea with a profound implication, which is…

    Why not fix all of Mass Effect and make it a playable game?

    The way I see it, coming up with fixes to Mass Effect, while fun and perhaps a good though exercise is ultimately meaningless so long as EA/Bioware are producing the franchise. It wont matter how many “How to Fix Mass Effect” videos there are on YouTube, whey will continue to ruin it every chance they get because EA is where good games go to die. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-LE0ycgkBQ
    However, there is hope for anyone who likes Mass Effect, but hates how EA ruined it as it is perfectly legal rip off video games, just so long as you have a different title and use all of your own artwork/programming. http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ztb88/eli5_how_is_it_legal_for_mobile_games_to_almost/

    Furthermore, considering that 60% of the game, as is, would have to be rewritten in order to make a cohesive three part plot about a galactic treat to all organic life, and EA/Bioware don’t have copyrights on the names Sheppard, Reaper, Normandy, Liara…ect. Then while EA/Bioware might get mad, they can’t legally do anything to stop an effort to make a re created Mass Effect under a similar name.

    Now if you like that idea, and think the promise of finally delivering the most epic video game ever; A.K.A a game in which every key choice profoundly affects the progression of the story and ultimately determines the very fate of every civilizations in the galaxy! Will generate enough interest to make it worth launching a Wasteland like kickstarter…
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2

    Let me know as I just might be able to help you flush out some the details and figure out how to use the Steam Workshop modding crowd to minimize the amount of work that actually has to be done.


    Cheers,
    Kenny HAM
    Email: kenny@michaelwolfam.com
    Tweet: @ShotgunKenny

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  16. Following KISS I have 5 simple ideas

    1. Have the player be actively involved, not being guided along a path but let the player make his own minor decisions and failures, like spending research into one thing over another, buying a ship over something else, etc

    2. The protagonist should have a clear character, I don't care if that means we have to remove Shepard, the protagonist should have motives and ideals that he or she personally had due to experiences. This allows for a protagonist the player can be invested in, more than just some self insert.

    3. The reapers are a star ship species, have the ability to command ship to ship combat, even in a basic form it would be better than narrative does all the removal of reapers and nothing more.

    4. Research trees, while present in RTS and TBS more often than other games, it would provide the play a way to feel they are actively doing something to prevent the end of the galaxy , the specifics do not matter, just the idea of it

    5. Morale of the crew, species, alliance etc. The ample fighting spirit of the people, of who would join your cause, who would appose, and who quite frankly don't give a damn about you.A major element in warfare is the morale of the people yet it is nonexistent in mass effect 3, a so called war with the reapers, what gives. No I do not mean indoctrinated Cerberus I mean, people who think YOU are incapable and thus think they would be better leaders. Granted another organisation of reaper worshipers can exist but work more covert rather than full on assault, name ideals do not matter at this point of time.

    Specifics can be worked on by you and the rest of the group, these are just generalities that might actually increase the the enjoyment of ME3, and not some wolverine like mary sue, too many of those out there...

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  17. Hey guys, I have a fix I wrote a while back over on the Forward Unto Dawn forums. http://assembly.forwarduntodawn.com/index.php?topic=143.msg8281#msg8281

    Interested to see what people think :-) I really tried to focus on making sure everything reconciled with what we were told in the first Mass Effect, and that decisions to help certain parties would directly impact the game ending.

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  18. I'm not sure it is helpful on it merits, or just because it is so late but I'll give my thoughts anyway. Sorry if this isn't helpful. I wanted to write earlier, but last time I tried the system decided to tell me to log into google again, and deleted everything I written.

    1. I'm not sure whether you mean the Crucible specifically or all Deus ex machina devices. I wouldn't however dismiss them off-hand.Whether it is such a device or some other "loophole" that subvert the power of the Reapers in some way.

    United galaxy and a few adapted technologies is to little, and doesn't do justice to the threat that Reapers are. Further, the Reaper creators if you assume such existed, are a perfectly plausible source of a super-weapon that could threaten their creations.

    2. Antagonist

    The problem for any antagonist from "the outside" is that he/she/it can't really speak for the Reapers, or at least doesn't speak with the authority of the Reaper.I think the dialog with Sovereign was so impactful because it was spoken by a Reaper. Dialogue with Vigil was also interesting, but it didn't have the same power.

    Problem with Reapers as antagonists is the more you anthropomorphic you make them, the more you diminish them.

    My idea, at least in my mind satisfies the need of the Reapers to be foreign and unknowable and allows for exchange of conflict with the authority of a Reaper.

    I call it the mouth of Sovereign.

    I envision this antagonist to be a Reaper, but not really a Reaper. Subordinate, but with leeway and on the inside. A tool of the Reapers, but not to be disposed of the first opportunity they get.

    Its existence is to be utilitarian, filling a role that the Reapers themselves can't or/and can't be bothered to.
    A intermediary that would allow the Reapers to carry out their business contacting synthetics and organics without necessarily revealing themselves.It would contact indoctrinated forces if necessary, and emulate emotions for the purpose of manipulation.

    It could be a part of Sovereign that had some sort of connection with it, and that even could have been changed somehow by its "death". Seeking revenge on Shepard?

    Such a creation gives a lot of possible context to a lot of events of Mass Effect involving Reapers, like in particular first contact with geth and Saren. Yes. I guess Sovereign could have just fly there, and/or use some other method to communicate but I think they raise much more questions.



    As much as I liked your idea of the Collector General for its dramatic elements I couldn't believe the Reapers would leave their puppet so much freedom to even express such ambivalent feelings, and have so much of its nature left.

    Perhaps instead Shepard could been connected by the beacon to another prothean who used it. Perhaps Javik, or some other prothean in stasis who survived the cycle. So Shepard can dream and eventually find this prothean, which can give exposition on the Prothean Empire. Or a good old VI.

    The antagonist that wants to die yet kill Shepard could have been someone indoctrinated. A old friend even, making it personal.


    3. Cerberus

    I really didn't like what they did with Cerberus, but I really like the idea of a internal struggle between TIM's Cerberus that represent how people who supported Cerberus interpreted it, and his alter-ego (another character) that would represent how people who hated it viewed it, causing a lot of chaos and mistrust inside Cerberus and hurting it on virtually every level, and and eventually join the Reapers (because of indoctrination).
    This Cerberus would not be shot up with steroids like it was in ME3, but with the Intel at its disposal the "Bad" Cerberus could have an impact.

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  19. Shepard and company should all be venerable to indoctrination. And your decisions should effect who, how many, if any, and if Shepard becomes indoctrinated.
    None of Shepard's friends are killed by the reapers. This war should be personal for Shepard, but how it be if no one close to him/her dies at the enemy's hands?

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    1. Here's how this might work. You do following and Grunt becomes indoctrinated, spree the Rakni Queen in ME1, take Grunt aboard the derelict reaper in ME2 which exposes him to reaper tech, and he survives the suicide mission, he is exposed to R tech here as will. In ME3 Grunt exposed a threed time leading his company and he becomes indoctrinated as dose all of Krogan there. Between the Krogan and reaper troops saving the Queen is impossible, we are forced to kill Grunt, and we may lose a squad mate as will. If Grunt is exposed to R tech less then 3 times or if you killed the queen in ME1this doesn't.
      Set-ups like this will increase play throughs, our decision would have long term effects, and it will make the reapers a much more terrifying enemy who is attacking from places you may never have thought they could.

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  20. What are your planes for the Leviethan DLC? Drop it, change it so we find an actual reaper defector, or something else?

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    1. I ask because wean we first meet the protheans VI Vindita it says that "the reapers are servants of the pattern not its masters." This implies that the reapers have a leader, and it's not Harbinger. This could explains how billions of Rakni, across many plants wore indoctrinated by Sovereign, its master helped. Thoughts?

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  21. In the citadel DLC we got Wrax back as a squad mates for 3 missions. That should happen with most of our ME2 squad mates. An ever changing roaster throughout the game.

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