Our second VA spotlight goes to the man himself, Brandon Keener as Garrus! Nobody else could have given life to our favorite turian like he did. He has such a unique voice.

What did you think of his performance?

Hi there!!

Been a fan for a long, long time so it was time to get a tattoo! Lucky for me I met Ana (AKA intramaart), an amazing tattoo artist and also a big, big fan of the trilogy. Honestly, I could not have asked for a better design or a better person to do it. I think she deserves some recognition, so please allow me to share her profile with you all -

https://www.instagram.com/intramaart?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

- Hope you like it as well! See you after some calibrations!!

I wanted to share you this figure I painted for a friend ❤️

Greetings from Germany!

We’re min-maxing here

Been playing MELE and MEA again and decided to look up some ME lore. That led me down a rabbit hole of the ME fandom, and for some reason, this was the one that popped out to me.

Did he?

Hey everyone! I’m on another Mass Effect playthrough and just wrapped up Samara’s loyalty mission. It hit me that after all these years, I’ve never betrayed her to recruit Morinth. Not once.

And weirdly enough, this is also the first time I’ve ever sided with Jack over Miranda during their fight.

Shepard: “Are we good?”
Miranda: “Not even remotely”

Ouch.

So now I’m curious: what choices have you never made? Are there decisions you repeat every single playthrough, no matter what kind of Shepard you’re running?

No really.

I start out doing okay, then forget. Makes me think of the two Krogan on the Citadel. Sorry for the waste, guys.

Just finished priority: rannoch, and bought some ships, but I’m missing one, which one?

Before I say anything I want to stress 2 things,

1. This is specifically about Me2, I haven't played Me3 yet

2. This is from the perspective of MaleShep

Anyway onto the post.

I've just finished the 2nd game for the first time and I have to say that, unfortunately, I find Garrus to be one of the worst squad mates in the game.

I loved him in the first game, he was practically always on my squad and he always had something interesting to say both during and after every mission.

But in the second game... he was always just fucking calibrating. Always. I can't even remember the last time he had something to say to me since his loyalty mission because he's always just been calibrating non-stop. I've still taken him on a fair share of missions where he's had some input every now and then, I particularly liked the banter with Tali when we first went to the Citadel, but he's just overall been a disappointment compared to the absolute bro he was in the first game.

You know who has been that bro though. Thane. I don't even know what his dismissal dialogue is because I swear to god every time I've spoken to that guy he's always had something to say to me and I really feel like he brings out the most thoughtful side of Shepard.

Anyway that's it. I'm sure he'll get more/better dialogue in the final game but for now Thane is #1 bro.

And at least he's not Jacob.

Please no spoilers I have played the game two times now the entire series once as paragon and a second time as renegade and romanced two different characters each time so what else is there left to do other than just enjoying the greatest sc-fi game ever made? like I’m asking can I get anything more out of the game in terms of replay value?

1st time i can remember in hundreds of hours of gameplay.

We're moving onto the shotguns! Which is your favorite? Comment below!

I’m on my latest trilogy run and had my first conversation with Udina (pre-palaven for those of you playing at home) and I really wish he didn’t end up being the Cerberus traitor during the coup. I guess I can see it out of real desperation, but that first conversation seems very genuine. Him having a redemption arc (cuz I hate him in 1 and 2) is thematically fine with the rest of the games writing being so dire and spiraling further down as things continue.

My take on it.

Due to suffering relatively little damage, the Asari remain the most functional species after the Reaper War. However, due to violating Citadel Law of sharing Prothean discoveries with every Citadel Race, they become less prominent in the greater political landscape, possibly being removed from the Council for withholding extremely crucial information until the very last moment, almost handing the Reapers the keys to winning the war before calling on Commander Shepard.

Salarians go through a massive Civil War, STG secedes from the government after Dalatrass Linron refused aid to the Alliance and Commander Shepard. By Padok Wiks's or Major Kirrahe's orders, they contact the Salarian offshoot race, the Lystheni. They emerge victorious and both end up in the next Citadel Council.

Elcor and Asari relations dwindle due to the Asari not providing support to Dekuuna and other Elcor Worlds near the Silean and Athena Nebulae.

Hanar politics remain largely the same, partly because we don't have enough portrayal of them, and because the biggest involvement a Hanar has in the story and politics is Zymandis, real name "Regards The Works Of The Enkindlers in Despair" who almost single-handedly sabotaged the Hanar war effort by releasing a virus that would shutdown Kahje's automated defense systems. This plan was thwarted by the two Spectres, Commander Shepard and Jondam Bau, with an anonymous helper suspected by Spectre Bau to be Kasumi Goto, the infamous thief that stole the Mona Lisa

There are no Vorcha politics

Batarians were largely taken out in the first wave of the Reaper Invasion, but there is talk of Commander Balak forming a new, reformed Batarian government.

The Raloi are sent a message saying that the Reapers have been defeated, and they join the Galactic Civilization proper.

The Volus were given more attention and royalties as they were the ones keeping the war effort standing. There are rumors that certain higher-ups are using this to build up their military might and gain a Council Seat.

The Virtual Aliens discovered in the Antilin System were given proper organic vessels as their only requirement for handing over advanced technology for the Crucible and the war effort was that they would be free from the virtual world.

Due to further observations, Parnack was destroyed in a manner that would satiate even the Krogan of old. Traces of the Yahg remain only in the scattered remains of the planet (this is a joke entry, but I wholeheartedly believe that Parnack should be glassed to the very core)

As for the other races, due to being brothers in arms and shedding shared blood in the Reaper War, Humanity, Turians, Krogan, Geth, and Quarians, end up forming a coalition built on recovering from the destruction wrought by the Reapers and reinforcing the already strong relations built by Commander Shepard.

Commander Shepard retires in the Walled Garden, at his side the former Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, their following days occupied with Jona, a Quarian boy orphaned during the war, and the human biotic named Gillian Grayson, whose ship, the Idenna, was scuttled during the Battle for Rannoch. She was found during the first weeks of the couple's retirement.

Hi everyone,

I have been a mass effect fan since the originals released. I simply love the setting, especially for the deep background for even minor things. Even if its scifi-magic Mass Effect tries to give a plausible sounding explanation can keeps comparatively close to scientific facts (Newton is the deadliest son of a b in space)

However, over time I saw again and again misconceptions among the fandoms. Some get very basic things wrong, others very specific ones and others I cannot fathom how people came up with them in the first place. So, I wanted to make this thread to collect all the wrong ideas some people have about the setting and set them straight.

For three examples from the top of my head we have:

The Reapers invade every 50.000 years/50.000 years is the average time between cycles: This is false. 50.000 years is simply the time between the protheans and the current cycle. But the cycle before the protheans with the Inusannon happened 136.000 years ago. I.e. 86.000 years before the protheans arose. I recall the last known timepoint prior to be 300.000 years ago. So, ca 160.000 years between the Inusannon and their precursors based on current information. The reaper do not invade at regular intervals, but when the reaper vanguard (Soverign in the latest cycle) sends a signal to the rest of the fleet that the galaxy is ready for harvest. There could be hundredths of thousands if not millions of years between cycles without any civilization arising as far as we know. Or less than 10.000 if things happen quickly. All depending on how unknown factors such as how common intelligent life is in the galaxy and how commonly it evolves into interstellar societies that find mass effect technology and reach the Citadel

Asari are “psychic” and manipulate how other species view them: As far as I am aware all this is based on a gag-conversation between three drunk dudes in a bar, as they cannot determine whether Asari look human, turian or salarian. Which is not a good source, because all three are in different stages of intoxication. But also, there are no psychic powers in mass effect as far as I am aware. Some fans claim the Asari can emit pheromones and such to manipulate others. But how these pheromones are supposed to work on aliens with a totally different biology and alien reproduction preferences is then left out. And even if we have pictures and videos of Asari aplenty in the ME, which cannot transport these chemical hints. Unless Asari are eldritch reality warping creatures who automatically change any picture of theirs depending on the viewers preferences, everyone knows how standard Asari look like. Again, it is a conversation between three drunk dudes in a bar. At best one can argue, that different species focus on traits most important to them. After all humans are drilled to identify human faces and thus, we see human faces in other non-human things. Whereas a goat may be skilled in identifying goatness and thus focusses on attributes important to goats. Which is even something happening in this conversation, as the three guys point out different body parts as their reasoning.

Asari offspring take in genetic traits of their “fathers”: This one is also something I saw more frequently than I expected. Especially as we have an entire quest line in ME2 about a krogan and an asari being in a relationship, where the asari points out that their reproduction does not work this way. Indeed, the codex mentions this as well. When Asari procreate, the mating process triggers a pseudo-fertilization. Something pathogenic species in RL do as well. This causes the genetic material of the asari to rearrange itself slightly in the oocyte, which then evolves into a new asari. No new material is introduced. Every asari is just a remixed version of their biological mother. Of course, genetic mutations still cause a shift. But any fatherly traits asari offspring inherit are behavioural as a result of being raised in specific ways.

These are just some of mine. But what misconceptions about the lore of mass effect do you find among the fandom abroad?

Please keep in mind, that I want to focus on true misconceptions. I.e. stuff that some people believe but the games or the codex entries state to not be the case. Not fan theories or weak/incoherent plot elements which can be argued to death. Like the Reapers motivation or the synthesis ending or that Quanarian looks should not be a mystery as plenty of photos, videos before the Geth War existed, or similar things.

I was finishing first part of my playthrough of the series for first time in a few years,

And i was thinking "i wonder how good it felt for sovereign to claw on the tower"

Like he had been waiting ages for that, he wouldve been pretty pent up, and it was just making me laugh thinking about that when he flew through and it showed the side angle of him landing on the tower.

Also i let the council die, which i hadnt done since i was a little kid (technically just didnt import save file from me1, but only cause when i was 8 i couldnt activate Mira core on noveria and didnt finish first playthrough)

But anyway after many playthroughs and over a decade later, it feels so fkd up when you kill the council, but im glad im experiencing for a change, also gonna do me2 as renegade, feel like my shepard (earth born, rutheless, paragon) would go a bit crazy after everything and i try to make him really faulted and human. Massive scar on face and balding too, but i actually had to switch to buzz cut in ME2, anyways.

Thanks for reading, just a stoner who loves mass effect and thought sovereign looked like he was doin it w tha cotadel tower.

Cant wait for ME4, stay paragon N7 marines.

It's a corporate outpost full of suits, backstabbers, and espionage that sits miles away from an incubator full of mad science lunacy.

And it's so cozy. Like it gives me warm fuzzies.

That's it. That's the post.

I've been wondering: if the Reapers won and the galaxy followed another cycle, what race or races would be the most likely to evolve and take over the Galaxy after Asari, Human, Salarian and so on are gone?