[katie TWAVA]

• This is an ongoing topic for discussion about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Effect_%28series%29, so keep the discussion on the games.
  
• It is understandable if you don't like Mass Effect games. We have no problem with you sharing this, but this is an ongoing topic. As such, it is primarily based on the positive aspects of the games, so if you don't like them don't post.
  
• This is an ongoing discussion and some people don't like Mass Effect games. If you try to provoke them it is just as bad. If you do disagree with someone, please don't drag it into a fight. This topic is primarily for what we like about the games and our ongoing experiences.
  
• Respect forum rules. If you are unclear review them http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=724862.
  
• Respect for other forum members is perhaps the most important. We all have opinions and we are all human beings. Treat each other with respect.

http://masseffect.bioware.com/

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Wiki

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCXHzbEDK5E&feature=related

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Previous threads: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073436 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1073826 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1074494 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075138 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075497 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1075916 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1076411 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1076897 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1077734 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1078265 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1079090 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1079854 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1080626 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1081545 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1082029 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1082910 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084127 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1084986 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1085395 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1085841 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1086200 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1086630 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1087738 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1088382 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1088920 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1090105 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1093323 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1097121 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1100627 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1107191 | http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?showtopic=1142182

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZGFjBmD41Q

[Reven Lord]

I was tooling around, getting caught up on my ME lore and found this. It is an older page and probably posted before, but some ( like myself ) may have never seen it. It is a briefing of the info from the novels and comics.

I suggest that you have at least played through ME2, before reading the link. Obviously, you want avoid it if you plan to read them for yourself. It is a great way to be brought up to speed going into ME3.

10 things fans MUST know from the ME comics and novels.
http://www.newsarama.com/games/10-must-know-facts-mass-effect-novels-comics-mass-effect-3-110707-1.html

[Tammie Flint]

Holy hell, if you couldn't tell the ilusive man was indocrinated from the first nanosecond of seeing his eyes I feel very sorry for you. Good gods people, all he needs is a twirly mustache, goatee, and to swear he'll get us and our little dog too to complete the picture.

[Adriana Lenzo]

Holy hell, if you couldn't tell the ilusive man was indocrinated from the first nanosecond of seeing his eyes I feel very sorry for you. Good gods people, all he needs is a twirly mustache, goatee, and to swear he'll get us and our little dog too to complete the picture.

Believe it or not, I have seen some very heated debates over that very thing. The timeline is what's the kicker. EVERYONE that has been Indoc has not lived beyond a few years. There is more here than meets the eyes.

Just because he has eye implants doesn't mean he is Indoc.

EDIT : There is no concrete evidence or statement that says otherwise. It is all speculation. I know, "Look at the eyes". Well, that's not good enough.

[D IV]

I was tooling around, getting caught up on my ME lore and found this. It is an older page and probably posted before, but some ( like myself ) may have never seen it. It is a briefing of the info from the novels and comics.

I suggest that you have at least played through ME2, before reading the link. Obviously, you want avoid it if you plan to read them for yourself. It is a great way to be brought up to speed going into ME3.

10 things fans MUST know from the ME comics and novels.
http://www.newsarama.com/games/10-must-know-facts-mass-effect-novels-comics-mass-effect-3-110707-1.html

Thats really interesting actually. I've read all the books and suppose I just took the information for granted. Hadn't really considered how much background you'd be missing by NOT reading them.

[DeeD]

Believe it or not, I have seen some very heated debates over that very thing. The timeline is what's the kicker. EVERYONE that has been Indoc has not lived beyond a few years. There is more here than meets the eyes.

Just because he has eye implants doesn't mean he is Indoc.

EDIT : There is no concrete evidence or statement that says otherwise. It is all speculation. I know, "Look at the eyes". Well, that's not good enough.

If you paid attention during the very first game the Reapers were capable of using sleeper agents in the eradicaiton of the Protheans. I presume this means long term indoctrination progressing at a slow or halted rate. While that doesn't necessarily prove my point, a sleeper agent is usually a long term kind of plan. The Reapers were patient and methodical when they wiped them out. It would take a long time for that to happen, you would think they would be nothing but husks. But apparently they were still in right enough of a mind to trick people and look normal. So this doesn't surprise me at all.

Seriously. This is Bioware they stick so heavily to trope usage its laughable to think he isn't indoctrinated. They probably left him enough free will to dellude himself into thinking he was free. It would be an easy thing to do. Not to mention in the novels the Reapers discuss that they can indocrinate someone faster but it can be more damaging. I beleive this was with Paul Greyson.

It seems VERY unlikely he isn't indoctrinated.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GlowingMechanicalEyes

[Soph]

Thats really interesting actually. I've read all the books and suppose I just took the information for granted. Hadn't really considered how much background you'd be missing by NOT reading them.

I was one that did not get the opportunity to read them. At my age I can't stay awake long enough to get through one anyway. I took a nap at number 5.
They proved to be very informative indeed.

If you paid attention during the very first game the Reapers were capable of using sleeper agents in the eradicaiton of the Protheans. I presume this means long term indoctrination progressing at a slow or halted rate. While that doesn't necessarily prove my point, a sleeper agent is usually a long term kind of plan. The Reapers were patient and methodical when they wiped them out. It would take a long time for that to happen, you would think they would be nothing but husks. But apparently they were still in right enough of a mind to trick people and look normal. So this doesn't surprise me at all.

Seriously. This is Bioware they stick so heavily to trope usage its laughable to think he isn't indoctrinated. They probably left him enough free will to dellude himself into thinking he was free. It would be an easy thing to do. Not to mention in the novels the Reapers discuss that they can indocrinate someone faster but it can be more damaging. I beleive this was with Paul Greyson.

It seems VERY unlikely he isn't indoctrinated.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GlowingMechanicalEyes

It's statements like this that makes your posts read like you are talking down to others. Not just me directly, like in the first sentence.

It is still speculation. Probably, likely and such doesn't hold solid ground. Is it possible? In a fictional tome, anything is. That burden lies is in the mind of the writer to explain the outcome in a believable fashion. Right now, I just don't know. I am not sure I really want to, TBH. I would like to entertain the idea of just being surprised with a twist.

I am sorry for initially responding to your original post. It will not happen again.

[matt]

I was one that did not get the opportunity to read them. At my age I can't stay awake long enough to get through one anyway. I took a nap at number 5.
They proved to be very informative indeed.



It's statements like this that makes your posts read like you are talking down to others. Not just me directly, like in the first sentence.

It is still speculation. Probably, likely and such doesn't hold solid ground. Is it possible? In a fictional tome, anything is. That burden lies is in the mind of the writer to explain the outcome in a believable fashion. Right now, I just don't know. I am not sure I really want to, TBH. I would like to entertain the idea of just being surprised with a twist.

I am sorry for initially responding to your original post. It will not happen again.

And you wonder why I might sound a little condecending? All you repsond with is maybe it could be something else. No evidence. Just here to but your head into mine. Naturally I'm going to get a little annoyed. COntrary to your beleif a fictional work does not mean anything can happen. There is a certain structure ot it humans expect. First and foremost the english language. I can't just write garble into a book and sell it. Not happening. Second is stories need to relate to us, we're egotistical things. It's very very rare when a book is focused on the perspective of an elephant during the civil war or something. It needs to be relatable on a human level, or in some way. So most books feature humans in fairly realistic scenarios. We also want o be challenged and to see people over coming it. So your not going to get too much stories where the hero comes in, effortlessly saves the day, gets the girl, and lives to be eighty years old. See where I'm going with this? People expect things. Now there's these things called tropes, the funny thing about them is most of them have been used for ages and ages before we could even write. People like them, and sure you get the author or ten here and there who will defy them or write a counter trope or whatever.

Then you look at Bioware, these guys are the people have for all of their games since Knight's of the Old Republic played the tropes straight. I can't find it now, but there's even a chart highlighting their basic premesis. Now you'll have to excuse me a little if you expect me to beleive them to magically change in one game and go all trope defying. That's too risky for them, and risky doesn't necessarily sell. They'll play the safe bet as a company and stick to the tropes for the most part. Then we get to the Illusive man, he's been tailored through movie and literary tropes to be an Big Bad Guy or perhaps the Reapers Dragon ect. Do you really think it's likely Bioware are suddenly going to sthrow in surprise twist? Really?Even the surprise twist is its own trope, though if used effectivley can work wonders. My point being books aren't so free and unconstrained as you think. If they do throw a twist in there I will genuinely be surprised. It's the last thing in the universe I expect Bioware to do in anything let alone this.

[Brandi Norton]

My interpretation of the Illusive Man's eyes when playing ME2 was simply that he was a really rich guy who could afford some fancy cybernetic eyes... probably to give him x-ray vision so he could see through Miranda's catsuit or something.

I guess the comic books made it explicit that he got those eyes from exposure to a Reaper artifact, and his eyes do look an awful lot like Saren's. Bioware tends not go for subtlety, so if he looks indoctrinated, he probably is.

[Carlitos Avila]

My interpretation of the Illusive Man's eyes when playing ME2 was simply that he was a really rich guy who could afford some fancy cybernetic eyes... probably to give him x-ray vision so he could see through Miranda's catsuit or something.

I guess the comic books made it explicit that he got those eyes from exposure to a Reaper artifact, and his eyes do look an awful lot like Saren's. Bioware tends not go for subtlety, so if he looks indoctrinated, he probably is.

If it weren't for how outlandish looking it was, and similar to Sarens/husks I would likely have come to the same conclusion. All I'm waiting for now is for him to reveal his treachery to us as though we couldn't see it coming 200000 universes away.

[Darlene DIllow]

The Illusive Man wasn't 100% indoctrinated by the Reapers, he just saw the future kinda similar to Shepard seeing the Cipher. The decisions that he will probably be making in ME3 comes from him not indoctrination. If the Illusive Man was truly indoctrinated then why would he rebuild Shepard in the 1st place. Regardless it will be interesting to see how the story ends up.

[Peetay]

And you wonder why I might sound a little condecending? All you repsond with is maybe it could be something else. No evidence. Just here to but your head into mine. Naturally I'm going to get a little annoyed.

Evidence to what? Him NOT being Indoc? I want to see evidence that he IS indoc. Something other than just his eyes. That is just too obvious, for me to swallow. I would like to think they have a little more creativity than that.

I just made a polite comment that I felt like basing a conclusion on something like that was not strong enough, for me. And I am considered to be butting heads? Then we are presented with a Lit lecture? You have anger issues, my friend.

EDIT : I'm not sure if he is or he isn't. The burden of proof lies on one to show that he is. That proof is yet to be seen.

Ahhh..It's time for my nap.

[CHARLODDE]

The Illusive Man wasn't 100% indoctrinated by the Reapers, he just saw the future kinda similar to Shepard seeing the Cipher. The decisions that he will probably be making in ME3 comes from him not indoctrination. If the Illusive Man was truly indoctrinated then why would he rebuild Shepard in the 1st place. Regardless it will be interesting to see how the story ends up.

It doesn't matter how much o rlittle your indoctrinated. Eventually it will get you. It's been HOW LONG since he's been infected? I seriously doubt he's not indocrinated. Not to mention in the leaked script theres a specific reason why the reapers want shepard himself. Everything he does adds up with prepairing for a Reaper invasion. I wouldn't be surprised if in the ending where the Reapers win Cerberus would have been promised a role ismilar to that of the collectors. The only way for the species to survive other than becomign a Reaper.

Edit
You know what would be a fun game? Humanity is almost completely wiped out by the Reapers, but through skill an dluck we hide a colony like the Prothean. In the vast future enough of humanity survives to wake up and warn the galaxy again. Maybe not enough to rebuild humanity to have that doomed feel to it, bit enough so theres more than just one or two. That would be an amazing game from a story perspective.

[Sara Lee]

You know what would be a fun game? Humanity is almost completely wiped out by the Reapers, but through skill an dluck we hide a colony like the Prothean. In the vast future enough of humanity survives to wake up and warn the galaxy again. Maybe not enough to rebuild humanity to have that doomed feel to it, bit enough so theres more than just one or two. That would be an amazing game from a story perspective.

Fallout in the far future? How about other races?

[Colton Idonthavealastna]

Fallout in the far future? How about other races?

Oo even better, with multiple races. Like a councel led project as a just in case.

[anna ley]

If the ME series continues after ME3, I hope we will be able to pick from multiple races. I'm getting tired of being stuck with human protagonists. I want to play a Krogan.

[Rodney C]

Well I got the doctor, the convict, end the krogen, plus the merc, now I'm after archangel....

[CHANONE]

You know what would be a fun game? Humanity is almost completely wiped out by the Reapers, but through skill an dluck we hide a colony like the Prothean. In the vast future enough of humanity survives to wake up and warn the galaxy again. Maybe not enough to rebuild humanity to have that doomed feel to it, bit enough so theres more than just one or two. That would be an amazing game from a story perspective.

Yes, this.^

Fallout in the far future? How about other races?

That ^

Oo even better, with multiple races. Like a councel led project as a just in case.

This too.^

If the ME series continues after ME3, I hope we will be able to pick from multiple races. I'm getting tired of being stuck with human protagonists. I want to play a Krogan.

And definitely this.^^

There has been talk about the direction of which they will head after the ME trilogy. There is definitely going to be more of something. I would love to see a race selective gameplay within the ME world. I just hope they don't spin off into a MMO line of play and ignore/abandon the RPG that is ME.

As we say goodbye to Commander Shepard. We welcome a new character, new council and new galaxies to explore.

EDIT : I know it's old but I still enjoy, again. Here is a link about ME3 combat and a demonstration of some of the new powers.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Or0fly8vA0

[Isaiah Burdeau]

It doesn't matter how much o rlittle your indoctrinated. Eventually it will get you. It's been HOW LONG since he's been infected? I seriously doubt he's not indocrinated. Not to mention in the leaked script theres a specific reason why the reapers want shepard himself. Everything he does adds up with prepairing for a Reaper invasion. I wouldn't be surprised if in the ending where the Reapers win Cerberus would have been promised a role ismilar to that of the collectors. The only way for the species to survive other than becomign a Reaper.

Edit
You know what would be a fun game? Humanity is almost completely wiped out by the Reapers, but through skill an dluck we hide a colony like the Prothean. In the vast future enough of humanity survives to wake up and warn the galaxy again. Maybe not enough to rebuild humanity to have that doomed feel to it, bit enough so theres more than just one or two. That would be an amazing game from a story perspective.

Better idea. Stop talking about leaked scripts for those of us who would like to play the game to find out what happens.

[amhain]

If the ME series continues after ME3, I hope we will be able to pick from multiple races. I'm getting tired of being stuck with human protagonists. I want to play a Krogan.

The only way that would happen would be if they made it a mmorpg. Which I think they would.

Bioware isn't going to get rid of voiced protaganists in a hurry, so the less lines the better.

[Clea Jamerson]

The only way that would happen would be if they made it a mmorpg. Which I think they would.

I'd play it. Have they suggested it might go this way?

[Christie Mitchell]

The only way that would happen would be if they made it a mmorpg. Which I think they would.

Bioware isn't going to get rid of voiced protaganists in a hurry, so the less lines the better.

Please please please please please please please please NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

developers have already taken my favorite star wars series KOTOR and ruined it. Don't do the same here.

again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umDr0mPuyQc

[James Wilson]

Better idea. Stop talking about leaked scripts for those of us who would like to play the game to find out what happens.

Wasn't it obvious? The collectors are after Shepard himself. For some reason they want him specifically. Why have one team trying to catch Shepard when you can have two. Not to mention Cerberus wouldn't know it's indoctrinated. That's how subtle it is. Then even if you fail to capture Shepard you have some useful data from studying his patterns and habits. It's what I would do, if that counts for anything.

[Heather Stewart]

Multiplayer vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h254YRtQoJU&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fl.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.youtube.com%252Fwatch%253Fv%253Dh254YRtQoJU%26h%3DwAQFxYSyOAQEd3rI_oasLljzlkVvmOcl31Vn31AjpTAwbyg&has_verified=1

Actually looks pretty damn good... I hope I dont live to regret that statement...

[Imy Davies]

Holy hell, if you couldn't tell the ilusive man was indocrinated from the first nanosecond of seeing his eyes I feel very sorry for you. Good gods people, all he needs is a twirly mustache, goatee, and to swear he'll get us and our little dog too to complete the picture.

Your giving the writers too much credit. He is cliche, but not the way you think.

Also the colony idea wont happen, but god I wish it were an ending. Nope, you will see some writing much worse.

Im actually interested in this games release now, just for the reactions.