Mass Effect universe discussion thread

[Oranos]

Apparently he dies because he's first on the games unseen death list for that final section. If you don't leave enough "good defenders" like Grunt, Garrus and Zaeed behind to "hold the line" the game kills Mordin.

Yeah, I know how it works now. This playthrough was before (Dusty?) announced how the deaths worked. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid move (and I'm not sure what I was thinking then).

Apparently if Jack dies in the cinematic before the mission starts Garrus pipes up instead. Even still it's basically a human supremacist organization and she's obviously totally on board with its core "humans first" philosophy. Jacob seemed more conflicted on things.

That's...interesting. What exactly does Garrus have to say? And how does he say it? I know he expresses his concerns over Shepard working for Cerberus, but he seemed to be one of the ones to set aside his doubts and trust in his commander.

It really bothered me how he gets a new suit of armour after his loyalty mission and it's still got a hole shot through it. I mean there's even a model in the game already with no damage on it. Why didn't they just recolour that one instead?

At least Garrus actually wears armor, unlike certain other characters.

Shockwave works on enemies even if their shields are up, occasionally dropping them in the process and punting a dude to the moon. Mostly though it's nice because it stuns enemies for a couple seconds, even if their shields are up, and if you give her the adept specialization her cooldowns get really short. I won't deny she's way more useful on easier settings when everything doesn't have shields, even borderline cheap, but redded out biotics can still be used, they're just not as effective. Warp ammo sure is though.

Warp Ammo...yeah, not a huge fan, I much prefer Tungsten. That with the Widow and Assassin Cloak. It's like one shot, one overkill. And I love it.

I love shockwave for husks, but that's about where my interest in Jack ends. Have I mentioned how much I hate shotguns? She is about my least favorite combination of everything.

Threatened to kill you did she?

If she met me when the mission was over, yeah. We saw how well that worked out with Nihlus, so I'm not convinced that that's a threat she's capable of carrying out. I'll make every effort to keep her alive for my main playthrough. Just to see what happens.

Really. I was very disappointed that they couldn't seem to get the Sheppard voice actors back to actually record proper conversations with him. There's another DLC character on the way to, you can already see her in the character screen if you manipulate certain game files though obviously she's not usable yet. I wonder if they're just going to do the same sort of thing with her.

Yeah, Kasumi. There's a news report about her on Illium, I think it was.

Maybe I'm thinking of some other play through then because I didn't have anyone's picture on my desk.

Really? I'm not sure what to think now. I may just make a playthrough to test it out myself.

I heard the exact opposite really. That they never made her a romance option because they didn't think anyone would want to romance a girl with "chicken feet".

I'm almost positive that she was planned to be a romance option, but some of the developers raised the concern of the "chicken feet" and that pretty much ended that plan.

They really need to just put in some kind of conversation thread near the end with all the potential romance interests where you can undo any sort of romance "points" or whatever you may have unwittingly built up with them.

It could even be fun. Range it from "it's not you it's me, no really" if you're a paragon to "oh my god you and me, no seriously you thought that.... oh god I need a shower" for renegade.

I laughed at the Renegade one.

[Ouroboros]

Yeah, I know how it works now. This playthrough was before (Dusty?) announced how the deaths worked. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid move (and I'm not sure what I was thinking then).

Well I already owned up to the Zaeed thing but my monumentally stupid move in my first playthrough was thinking that Chakwas could metal gear solid her way back to the Normandy without an escort or a weapon.

I would pay extra for that to be a DLC like the Joker mission.

That's...interesting. What exactly does Garrus have to say? And how does he say it? I know he expresses his concerns over Shepard working for Cerberus, but he seemed to be one of the ones to set aside his doubts and trust in his commander.

I've never heard it myself. I got all the ship upgrades so nobody died in the cutscene for me. I'm surprised you didn't end up hearing it.

At least Garrus actually wears armor, unlike certain other characters.

Yeah that bugged me to. "Hey guy's we're headed for some hard Vacuum, don't forget your scuba masks."

I think Garrus and Tali really are the only ones in the whole game with a proper airtight suit. Zaeed get's a helmet but his entire arm is exposed, same story with Grunt.

Oh well this give me a chuckle bringing Jack to the migrant fleet though. Here you've got Shep all sealed up so as not to spread any of his deadly human diseases to the poor fragile Quarians and Jack is just like, "What?! I'm wearing my mask!".

Warp Ammo...yeah, not a huge fan, I much prefer Tungsten. That with the Widow and Assassin Cloak. It's like one shot, one overkill. And I love it.

I went with warp because it's a global damage boost against everything but shields I think.

I love shockwave for husks, but that's about where my interest in Jack ends. Have I mentioned how much I hate shotguns? She is about my least favorite combination of everything.

Shotguns are ass, I won't defend them. The new DLC one isn't bad but they still spread out by a ridiculous amount and those are some of the slowest hypersonic projectiles I've ever seen.

That's one thing that really bothers me about the gunplay in this one in general. I remember in ME1 how when you fired your weapon it was basically an instant hit. The flight time was imperceptible just like you'd expect reading the codex description of what the weapons are like. Now in this one I actually have to lead a Vorcha by like a meter with my pistol if he's more than 20 feet away. ME1 weapons felt powerful, ME2 weapons feel more like nerfguns with inexplicably high recoil to me, especially the shotguns.

If she met me when the mission was over, yeah. We saw how well that worked out with Nihlus, so I'm not convinced that that's a threat she's capable of carrying out. I'll make every effort to keep her alive for my main playthrough. Just to see what happens.

I've never got far enough in the dialog with her to get to that point.

Yeah, Kasumi. There's a news report about her on Illium, I think it was.

You can even get her to appear in the final cutscene apparently. She takes either Jack or Tali's place in dying, but it looks like what I hope is just a placeholder model.

Really? I'm not sure what to think now. I may just make a playthrough to test it out myself.

I had no picture for sure, I just can't remember with 100% certainty if that Shepard was the same one that turned her down at the end or just didn't talk to her period. I made one but then remade him because his face was just pissing me off too much to take him through 3 games.

That would be another suggestion I'd offer up to the Dev team for part 3. Let the player

-Create a new face right from the title screen not have to play through a 10 minute opening sequence first.

-Tweek their created face after the tutorial mission because the face always looks different in the character creator than in the actual game.

-View the created Shepard as a game model fully zoomed out before accepting the face

-Have buttons to run through some basic facial expressions so they can see how the face will move.

-Have a light source to toggle on/off on one side of the face creator sreen so they can see how shadows will fall on the face and check for really sharp edges.

I'm almost positive that she was planned to be a romance option, but some of the developers raised the concern of the "chicken feet" and that pretty much ended that plan.

Honestly, Liara being the only Asari in the universe with eyebrows bothered me a lot more than the chickenfeet. I want to be able to ask her about it in part 3.

Paragon: So I've noticed something different about you Liara...

Neutral: So Liara, why do you have eyebrows

Renegade: So, did someone attack you with a sharpie the first time you "fainted" or something, you know you can wash that off.

Renegade interrupt: Throw her in a headlock, lick your thumb, and try to rub it off.

[Alan Wake]

Hey guys, I've been wondering... how do you want the 3rd game to open?

I've been thinking about it a lot, and here's my take on how they should introduce the next installment.

I'd really like the game to open up with them already in the war with the reapers.

I think that'd be a great way to introduce it. They're attacking planets all over the place, humans/other races are dieing and they can't defeat them because of the mass numbers.

I'd even love to see the citadel destroyed and you lose some familiar faces from all the games previous. Anderson can die in the downfall, trying to be a hero. Hell, even an attack on earth would be cool. it would add so much depth to the story if we lost our world.

Then through this, you ( the character ) sets out on a final quest to find a way to stop them... but the task is really impossible because the reapers are all over space, and all hope already seems lost.

I thought this would be a cool way to start the game.

Maybe it should be like, 4 months into the war or something.

[DigiFluid]

I absolutely want ME3 to open with the war already in progress. I have no idea how I want it to progress after that, but I know for sure I want an epic last stand as the final mission in the game.

For that, I'm thinking either
- Earth, using the Prothean home/megaweapon route
- Eden Prime, for the same reason + full circle to where the trilogy started
- the Citadel, because it's the Reapers' own device



Oh and AW, I forgot to tell you earlier: I love your sig. I laugh every time I see it

[Alan Wake]

I absolutely want ME3 to open with the war already in progress. I have no idea how I want it to progress after that, but I know for sure I want an epic last stand as the final mission in the game.

For that, I'm thinking either
- Earth, using the Prothean home/megaweapon route
- Eden Prime, for the same reason + full circle to where the trilogy started
- the Citadel, because it's the Reapers' own device



Oh and AW, I forgot to tell you earlier: I love your sig. I laugh every time I see it

I like the last idea. a bit of irony. or perhaps we don't defeat them... but only mange to stop them.

Kinda like the Matrix ending. they'll still be "around"

I'd actually like to meet a reaper who isn't "evil", who's maybe good... and wants to stop the other machines.

[Ouroboros]

Hey guys, I've been wondering... how do you want the 3rd game to open?

I've been thinking about it a lot, and here's my take on how they should introduce the next installment.

I'd really like the game to open up with them already in the war with the reapers.

I think that'd be a great way to introduce it. They're attacking planets all over the place, humans/other races are dieing and they can't defeat them because of the mass numbers.

I'd even love to see the citadel destroyed and you lose some familiar faces from all the games previous. Anderson can die in the downfall, trying to be a hero. Hell, even an attack on earth would be cool. it would add so much depth to the story if we lost our world.

Then through this, you ( the character ) sets out on a final quest to find a way to stop them... but the task is really impossible because the reapers are all over space, and all hope already seems lost.

I thought this would be a cool way to start the game.

Maybe it should be like, 4 months into the war or something.

The main thing I want from ME3 is just not to have to gather a whole new team again. Not only do I like the characters they've already got and don't see any need to push them out in favor of starting from scratch again, I also just don't want to have to do that again.

This is going to be the final part of the story so it would seem awfully stupid if you're still not prepared again because the 20 some reliable people you already know were wisked away by plot magic.

My other major hope is a party system that'll let you use more than 2 characters at once.

In terms of plot I don't really have a lot that I think "absolutely must happen" or anything. I mainly just don't want some sort of bull**** Independance day/ark of truth type ending where I have to upload a virus to Harbinger to make all the reapers die.

I want instead to have to fly around the galaxy gathering up all my allies to kick reaper ass. There was a reason I didn't kill that Rachni queen, hacked those Geth, made friends with Aria, kept Wrex alive to lead the Krogan, preserved the collector base, got the Quarians looking at Tali as a new potential Admiral, and put Anderson on the citadel council.

Pretty much every action I've taken with my main Sheppard was based around the idea of needing to gather strength and allies for the coming war. If I get ripped off by some sort of "upload virus to winz" nonsense I'm going to be a little annoyed.

I even killed the original council off because I was convinced by the end of the first game that their tiresome drag assing and stern commitment to total inaction would spell the doom of all sentient life.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

The main thing I want from ME3 is just not to have to gather a whole new team again. Not only do I like the characters they've already got and don't see any need to push them out in favor of starting from scratch again, I also just don't want to have to do that again.

This is going to be the final part of the story so it would seem awfully stupid if you're still not prepared again because the 20 some reliable people you already know were wisked away by plot magic.

My other major hope is a party system that'll let you use more than 2 characters at once.

In terms of plot I don't really have a lot that I think "absolutely must happen" or anything. I mainly just don't want some sort of bull**** Independance day/ark of truth type ending where I have to upload a virus to Harbinger to make all the reapers die.

I want instead to have to fly around the galaxy gathering up all my allies to kick reaper ass. There was a reason I didn't kill that Rachni queen, hacked those Geth, made friends with Aria, kept Wrex alive to lead the Krogan, preserved the collector base, got the Quarians looking at Tali as a new potential Admiral, and put Anderson on the citadel council.

Pretty much every action I've taken with my main Sheppard was based around the idea of needing to gather strength and allies for the coming war. If I get ripped off by some sort of "upload virus to winz" nonsense I'm going to be a little annoyed.

I even killed the original council off because I was convinced by the end of the first game that their tiresome drag assing and stern commitment to total inaction would spell the doom of all sentient life.

I think there's been plenty of set up, like with the rachni, or the krogan, that you'll be collecting allies to fight the reapers. Anyone remember Mordin's mission with the Genophage and how it could be fixed, I reckon that's going to be important in ME 3. Lovely moral choice of whether you want to led horde's or Krogan out again.

I just hope after Mass Effect 3 we still get more Mass Effect stuff. Some things don't need sequels, there isn't scope for it, but with Mass Effect they've built a whole universe that's as rich as Star Trek, Star Wars or Star Gate, and I want to keep exploring it.

[Ouroboros]

I think there's been plenty of set up, like with the rachni, or the krogan, that you'll be collecting allies to fight the reapers. Anyone remember Mordin's mission with the Genophage and how it could be fixed, I reckon that's going to be important in ME 3. Lovely moral choice of whether you want to led horde's or Krogan out again.

I saved the cure. At the very least I can threaten the council with the return of the Krogan horde if they try and drag ass on me again. "You can fight the Reapers or you can fight the Krogan but you bureaucratic *******s are going to be fighting a war, one way or the other."

I just hope after Mass Effect 3 we still get more Mass Effect stuff. Some things don't need sequels, there isn't scope for it, but with Mass Effect they've built a whole universe that's as rich as Star Trek, Star Wars or Star Gate, and I want to keep exploring it.

It's funny, after the first game I thought MEverse was a nice example of my country finally doing something right in terms of entertainment for once, but ultimately not particularly stand out from the sci-fi crowd. Some elements of the setting were pretty stock and generic, but others like the thought put into how mass effect fields worked and the space combat in the codex really impressed me. Part 2 has elevated it above any of those settings you mentioned for me.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

It's funny, after the first game I thought MEverse was a nice example of my country finally doing something right in terms of entertainment for once, but ultimately not particularly stand out from the sci-fi crowd. Some elements of the setting were pretty stock and generic, but others like the thought put into how mass effect fields worked and the space combat in the codex really impressed me. Part 2 has elevated it above any of those settings you mentioned for me.

I think the Mass Effect universe while not particularly original, stands out by using scifi tropes in interesting ways and having a well developed and believable universe. One of the great things about it is that none of the races have a "hat," you know how in star Trek all the races have one defining feature, Vulcans are logical, Romulans are devious, Klingons are all about fighting. It wasn't believable, how do the Klingons maintain an advanced society if everyone's concerned with shouting lots and fighting, they'd implode as a society. Where as in Mass Effect many of the races are not defined by one feature, while yes in the Universe the Asari are big on diplomacy, Salarians big on espionage and the Turians big on war it's not all they do. You meet diplomats from all 3 races, soldiers from all 3 races, merchants from all 3, you meet an undercover Turian in Chora's den in the first game as well as Salarians doing sneaky stuff, believably all these races are multifaceted.

Some of the more minor races are slightly less developed but as the games progress we learn more about them, for instance the Hanar just seemed to be weird jellyfish with a thing about preaching about the Protheans. Except of course you find in Mass Effect 2 thane Thane, the Drell assassin was employed by them and they clearly weren't just the innocent jellyfish your thought they might be.

The closest you get to a one note race is the Krogan in my opinion and even that's subverted beautifully. They are almost the equivalent of Klingons in Mass Effect, proud warrior race, all about the fighting, Michael Dorn voices one of them but of course Mass Effect shows how self destructive a society that would be, with the Krogans behaviour constantly leading to their near extinction.

[Ouroboros]

I think the Mass Effect universe while not particularly original, stands out by using scifi tropes in interesting ways and having a well developed and believable universe. One of the great things about it is that none of the races have a "hat," you know how in star Trek all the races have one defining feature, Vulcans are logical, Romulans are devious, Klingons are all about fighting. It wasn't believable, how do the Klingons maintain an advanced society if everyone's concerned with shouting lots and fighting, they'd implode as a society. Where as in Mass Effect many of the races are not defined by one feature, while yes in the Universe the Asari are big on diplomacy, Salarians big on espionage and the Turians big on war it's not all they do. You meet diplomats from all 3 races, soldiers from all 3 races, merchants from all 3, you meet an undercover Turian in Chora's den in the first game as well as Salarians doing sneaky stuff, believably all these races are multifaceted.

The Asari probably bothered me the most. Since they just seemed like such obvious nerdbait fanservice. A race of "aliens" that are all attractive females and go out of their way to mate with other species. Then ME2 had the Asari bartender and I'm cool with Asari now.

I wanted her on the ship so bad, to the point I would have gladly traded away multiple other characters to do it. If ME3 offers up some sort of opportunity to nominate new council members for the various species there's just no way I can see them coming up with an Asari I'd pick over her.

Between her and Aria the Asari took a big step up in my book in ME2.

Some of the more minor races are slightly less developed but as the games progress we learn more about them, for instance the Hanar just seemed to be weird jellyfish with a thing about preaching about the Protheans. Except of course you find in Mass Effect 2 thane Thane, the Drell assassin was employed by them and they clearly weren't just the innocent jellyfish your thought they might be.

Zaeed's also got a story about being strangled by one and how he'll never underestimate them again. Apparently they're freakishly fast and strong, they just get slowed down a lot when they're not in water. The fact they also train up pseudo religious assassins came as a bit of a surprise to.

The closest you get to a one note race is the Krogan in my opinion and even that's subverted beautifully. They are almost the equivalent of Klingons in Mass Effect, proud warrior race, all about the fighting, Michael Dorn voices one of them but of course Mass Effect shows how self destructive a society that would be, with the Krogans behaviour constantly leading to their near extinction.

I liked O'keer to. I was disappointed when it ended up I wasn't going to get him for my team. ME2 did a lot for the Krogans just like the Asari. Mordin's loyalty mission and that Krogan talking about his son really brought home their "human" side if you will.

[Oranos]

Well, my flight landed, I'm rested and ready to respond.

Well I already owned up to the Zaeed thing but my monumentally stupid move in my first playthrough was thinking that Chakwas could metal gear solid her way back to the Normandy without an escort or a weapon.

I would pay extra for that to be a DLC like the Joker mission.

I laughed. A lot. The people in the airport thought I was crazy or something.

It doesn't sound that stupid--well, maybe it does. As I recall, they head back the way you came. You pretty much cleared that area out; you'd think they'd be able to manage on their own.

I've never heard it myself. I got all the ship upgrades so nobody died in the cutscene for me. I'm surprised you didn't end up hearing it.

I should have. I didn't do that upgrade and Jack died. I don't know, I was probably with a friend and distracted, maybe.

Yeah that bugged me to. "Hey guy's we're headed for some hard Vacuum, don't forget your scuba masks."

At least with the first game--one of the things it did better--everyone had armor, when needed, and a helmet.

Oh well this give me a chuckle bringing Jack to the migrant fleet though. Here you've got Shep all sealed up so as not to spread any of his deadly human diseases to the poor fragile Quarians and Jack is just like, "What?! I'm wearing my mask!".

It's the reason I have to bring Garrus there.

...Or Legion. Even if both ways leave me without a biotic.

I went with warp because it's a global damage boost against everything but shields I think.

That sounds right. Tungsten, on the other hand, cuts through armor and has a massive damage boost (which includes enemies without a defense, I believe). It also has a nifty animation.

I've never got far enough in the dialog with her to get to that point.

That story was awesome; you'll love it when you hear it. It made me want Nihlus on my squad again...if Saren hadn't been a complete jerk and shot him in the back.

You can even get her to appear in the final cutscene apparently. She takes either Jack or Tali's place in dying, but it looks like what I hope is just a placeholder model.

I've seen that. That looks nothing like her on the squad selection screen.

Honestly, Liara being the only Asari in the universe with eyebrows bothered me a lot more than the chickenfeet. I want to be able to ask her about it in part 3.

At first I thought it was something that purebloods had in common. Of course, that theory was kind of blown out of the water in ME2.

As for how I want Mass Effect 3 to start...

Screw the war, save that for Mass Effect 4. I want the Council to declare me a rogue Spectre.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

The Asari probably bothered me the most. Since they just seemed like such obvious nerdbait fanservice. A race of "aliens" that are all attractive females and go out of their way to mate with other species. Then ME2 had the Asari bartender and I'm cool with Asari now.

I wanted her on the ship so bad, to the point I would have gladly traded away multiple other characters to do it. If ME3 offers up some sort of opportunity to nominate new council members for the various species there's just no way I can see them coming up with an Asari I'd pick over her.

Between her and Aria the Asari took a big step up in my book in ME2.



Zaeed's also got a story about being strangled by one and how he'll never underestimate them again. Apparently they're freakishly fast and strong, they just get slowed down a lot when they're not in water. The fact they also train up pseudo religious assassins came as a bit of a surprise to.



I liked O'keer to. I was disappointed when it ended up I wasn't going to get him for my team. ME2 did a lot for the Krogans just like the Asari. Mordin's loyalty mission and that Krogan talking about his son really brought home their "human" side if you will.

Really every race in Mass Effect is developing nicely, even the small titbits in the codex add to it. The codex for example reveals that Elcor soldiers can mount heavy weapons on their shoulders, I really want to see that in Mass Effect 3, and again in the course of the games we meet Elcor diplomats, Elcor merchants, hell there's even an Elcor bouncer on Omega. Even the Vorcha, whose primary role seems to be dumb cannon fodder get a little bit of development, you can have an encounter with some peaceful Vorcha on omega who just want to stay out of trouble and there are news reports about turning Vorcha into productive members of society.

There are only a couple of one note races really, the reapers being one of them, but seeing as how their supposed to be unknowable cosmic space horrors that's kind of a given. The only race whose development hasn't been great is the Volus. They seem to have become the sought of space bankers, I hope they get further development as well.

[s09119]

Really every race in Mass Effect is developing nicely, even the small titbits in the codex add to it. The codex for example reveals that Elcor soldiers can mount heavy weapons on their shoulders, I really want to see that in Mass Effect 3, and again in the course of the games we meet Elcor diplomats, Elcor merchants, hell there's even an Elcor bouncer on Omega. Even the Vorcha, whose primary role seems to be dumb cannon fodder get a little bit of development, you can have an encounter with some peaceful Vorcha on omega who just want to stay out of trouble and there are news reports about turning Vorcha into productive members of society.

There are only a couple of one note races really, the reapers being one of them, but seeing as how their supposed to be unknowable comic space horrors that's kind of a given. The only race whose development hasn't been great is the Volus. They seem to have become the sought of space bankers, I hope they get further development as well.

As a few characters point out, though, the vorcha are closer to being talking dogs than a true sentient species themselves...

Also, one thing I love is how in ME races' names aren't capitalized, much as we don't do so for "human." It drives me insane in other franchises, Stargate included, where a species. name is capitalized by our own isn't. ME gets it right, and the only races with capitalized names are ones who don't have proper real names; "Reapers," "Protheans," etc.

[Ouroboros]

I laughed. A lot. The people in the airport thought I was crazy or something.

It doesn't sound that stupid--well, maybe it does. As I recall, they head back the way you came. You pretty much cleared that area out; you'd think they'd be able to manage on their own.

Sadly this was also my thinking. "If those Salarian officer workers could make it...". It was also convinced the game would screw over whoever I sent with some sort of ambush scenario where they'd die protecting Chakwas' escape.

At least with the first game--one of the things it did better--everyone had armor, when needed, and a helmet.

Yeah, I was kind of disappointed by the inability to buy new armour/customise the look of the other party characters in this one. The claimed "customization" for Sheppard's armour was also very underwhelming and all the DLC armour's thus far are useless by virtue of not having a helmet toggle.

Really does a lot for the setting immersion to watch Sheppard pour a drink all over his faceplate or have all these people from his past immediately recognize him by their fond familiarity with his cold anonymous mask.

It's the reason I have to bring Garrus there.

It was a pretty moment for me not seeing a single Quarian without a suit on even in their own ships, or in any of those video recordings, or in the codex or by just asking someone old enough like Samara or Wrex what they used to look like.

That sounds right. Tungsten, on the other hand, cuts through armor and has a massive damage boost (which includes enemies without a defense, I believe). It also has a nifty animation.

One might be better than the other depending on what class you played. I played soldier the first time so didn't need another ammo power and used Warp on an adept. On an adept it's extra effective since it does double damage on anything being effected by biotics. Since adept strategy in this is basically throwing down singularities then shooting the people while they're helpless before blowing it all up with a warp, warp ammo helped speeds things alone immensely.

That story was awesome; you'll love it when you hear it. It made me want Nihlus on my squad again...if Saren hadn't been a complete jerk and shot him in the back.

I think I'm going to wait for that new DLC at then end of the month before diving into the game again but I'll definitely try to get her earlier and talk to her more this time.

Screw the war, save that for Mass Effect 4. I want the Council to declare me a rogue Spectre.

... and if you've managed to keep him alive through the other two games they send Conrad and an "elite" team assembled by him to track you down in some sort of shortbus version of you vs Saren in ME1.

Really every race in Mass Effect is developing nicely, even the small titbits in the codex add to it. The codex for example reveals that Elcor soldiers can mount heavy weapons on their shoulders, I really want to see that in Mass Effect 3, and again in the course of the games we meet Elcor diplomats, Elcor merchants, hell there's even an Elcor bouncer on Omega. Even the Vorcha, whose primary role seems to be dumb cannon fodder get a little bit of development, you can have an encounter with some peaceful Vorcha on omega who just want to stay out of trouble and there are news reports about turning Vorcha into productive members of society.

There are only a couple of one note races really, the reapers being one of them, but seeing as how their supposed to be unknowable comic space horrors that's kind of a given. The only race whose development hasn't been great is the Volus. They seem to have become the sought of space bankers, I hope they get further development as well.

I like the Volus as individual characters in almost every case though. They are the obvious comic releif choice right now though, and it's true they don't really have much backstory.

I hope we get some of the more weird aliens as squad members in 3. One outcome I'd like to see is Sheppard organizing an alliance between all of these other species the council has either marginalized or otherwise kept out of the coolkids club and using them to save the galaxy.

[Oranos]

For those of you who still haven't seen it, there's a new heavy weapon out: the arc projector.

But perhaps of more interest is Kasumi. As I promised, I come with news of our female thief. Just be sure to scroll down the page, it's near the end.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/11/ma...ands-on-apr-6-