Questions about Mass Effect 2's ending (SPOILERS)

[JoshGuru7]

Don't forget about the Geth either. Legion States that a very large majority of the Geth oppose the "old machines." They would fight too. and the Geth number in the billions. So... we have Rachni, Geth and all organic races... maybe there will be an epic war...

The main problem I see with this is that it doesn't seem like there is much of a role for Shepard in it. A crack infantry assault squad just doesn't seem that useful in a fleet battle involving thousands of ships. I guess Shepard could always be involved in some sort of side mission ala Matrix 2/3.

 

[ayabe]

Terrible ending, in fact the main quest is just too short, sparse on actual events and is over just as it's getting started.

 

[l0cke]

.

That makes me think of something else I don't understand, actually. If reapers are made to look like races they've conquered/wiped out, why does every single reaper shown look the same (other than the unfinished human reaper)? Even in the final cutscene, all the incoming reapers look like Sovereign. What happened to the reapers based on all the other species that were wiped out?

They look different to me...

 

[ramj70]

That's certainly possible but if they had been travelling for hundreds of years it seems like really wierd timing to make an attempt on the mass relay right when they are getting close to the end of their journey. They not only risked Sovereign but tipping their hand. That also wouldn't explain why the prothean scientists thought that altering the keepers would prevent the Reaper threat in the future. Hundreds of years of travel is meaningless from the perspective of a 50,000 cycle.

Maybe the problem with the sun in the questar? system is a way they will try and return now. The Qorians said they detected dark energy in the sun that appeared to be making it die.

 

[JoshGuru7]

Maybe the problem with the sun in the questar? system is a way they will try and return now. The Qorians said they detected dark energy in the sun that appeared to be making it die.

Hmm I like it! That was a very major plot point just to be mentioned in passing without any kind of resolution. Maybe the reapers will start killing off suns of inhabited systems, or maybe you are right and that's how they create the mass relays in the first place out of the black hole created by an imploded star.

I also have a similar theory about EDI. Joker gave her full control of her systems during the collector's attack but we never saw any major differences other than the resulting manuever. That could also be setting up a major plot in ME3. Maybe in that moment the Reapers rewrote EDI's programming?

 

[rumpleforeskin]

Terrible ending, in fact the main quest is just too short, sparse on actual events and is over just as it's getting started.

the main quest could certainly have done with having more missions placed between the recruitment missions.

It is possible that the ending alluded to the reapers purpose for the 50,000 extinction cycle, it could be that to reproduce they need organics as both a source of organic diversity and to add new concious to the new reaper. each reaper may be many (like a geth platform) organic ideas fused into a single vessel.

If this were true it would explain why the reapers ahve to wait 50,000 for the races of the galaxy to advance enough to have something worth incorporating into themselves.

So maybe the repaers are unable to reproduce alone.

 

[ramj70]

Hmm I like it! That was a very major plot point just to be mentioned in passing without any kind of resolution. Maybe the reapers will start killing off suns of inhabited systems, or maybe you are right and that's how they create the mass relays in the first place out of the black hole created by an imploded star.

I also have a similar theory about EDI. Joker gave her full control of her systems during the collector's attack but we never saw any major differences other than the resulting manuever. That could also be setting up a major plot in ME3. Maybe in that moment the Reapers rewrote EDI's programming?

They left quite a bit up in the air with little clues here and there. I hope they have a good story for ME3. With all the loose ends it could be quite a game. I hope they do not take any short cuts though and skip over some of the loose ends.

 

[l0cke]

Maybe the problem with the sun in the questar? system is a way they will try and return now. The Qorians said they detected dark energy in the sun that appeared to be making it die.

Speaking of dark energy, Gianna Parasini (lady from Noveria on Illium) mentions that there have been hacking attempts to get information about Dark Energy from Noveria.

Very interesting...

 

[Niku]

My predictions:

- At the end of ME1, the Reapers were all out in deep space save Sovereign who was the one tasked with opening the relay for them to come home. His destruction put a major kink in their plans and piqued their interest in Shepard and humanity since this probably had never happened before - or they would have left two reapers behind.

- Upon learning of Sovereign's demise the Reapers may have started a lengthy trip back to galactic space without the aid of the mass relay but I think it's more likely that they decided to wait and see if the mass relay was still a possibility. On a 50,000 year timescale, waiting two years for an attempt is nothing.

- Harbingers plan B was to use the collector and geth slaves to construct a human reaper. The human reaper was an experiment itself to see if humans would make good reapers, but it would have filled double duty by being tasked with suceeding where Sovereign failed. No downside to the Reapers here, only upside if it works and they get to shave years off their trip.

- Based on their interest in Shepard and the advanced tech required for the Lazarus Project, it's possible that they are somehow involved in Cerberus or with the Illusive Man. This seems a bit unlikely due to the actions of the Illusive Man, but it's possible that he is being manipulated and that the Reapers simply didn't value the Collectors very highly. They'll have a new slave race in the Geth once they get back to Galactic Space, so perhaps the Collectors had outlived their usefulness.

- Note that partly as a result of the actions of Cerberus, the council and the alliance are still largely unconcerned about the Reaper threat. In many cases you went on ahead while the official notice was delayed. The lack of alliance response to dead collectors could indicate that Cerberus sent cleanup teams around after you.

- After the collectors and human reaper were destroyed, the Reapers set out at full speed towards the galaxy. However, if the trip is only a matter of a few years then I have to wonder why they needed the Mass Relay in the first place. Appearing in the middle of the citadel is highly convenient for an attacking force, but if the journey is only a matter of a few years then it's negligible next to the 50,000 year cycle they operate on. I think it's more likely that they are hundreds or thousands of years away, after all the purpose of going away is to wait somewhere where they cannot be accidentally stumbled upon. As such, Mass Effect 3 will revolve around another plot to shorten the trip. I think this will involve capturing the Mass Relay perhaps involving Cerberus, and we may see a new group of Reaper slaves called into service along with possibly the geth being overwritten to all serve the Reapers.

- Also, the actions of the Prothean scientists seem to indicate that the Reaper fleet needs the Mass Relay to return. They returned to the Citadel after the Reapers wiped out civilization and modified the signal sent to the keepers so the Reapers could not employ the same strategy in the future. Yet they left no warnings about the Reapers behind at the Citadel, which indicates that they believed the threat was ended with the alteration of the signal. I guess it's also possible that they left a bunch of stuff behind but the Keepers cleaned it all up over the millenia.

You CAN run out of fuel. The reapers DO hybernate to conserve energy and resources. My guess is that if some one does not open a mass relay for them, then the reapers are probably stuck in deep extra galactic space. If they debark to head inward toward galactic space, then they will probably use all their fuel. I mean, they are at a point where they can see the galaxy spanning in all directions. They must be REALLY far out. Not JUST beyond the furthest arm. The idea that reapers DO have finite resources which was mentioned in ME1. They said flat out that the reapers enter a form of hibernation to concerve energy. Can't remember when it was said though.

 

[Zenoth]

You CAN run out of fuel. The reapers DO hibernate to conserve energy and resources. My guess is that if some one does not open a mass relay for them, then the reapers are probably stuck in deep extra galactic space. If they debark to head inward toward galactic space, then they will probably use all their fuel. I mean, they are at a point where they can see the galaxy spanning in all directions. They must be REALLY far out. Not JUST beyond the furthest arm. The idea that reapers DO have finite resources which was mentioned in ME1. They said flat out that the reapers enter a form of hibernation to conserve energy. Can't remember when it was said though.

That was Vigil, if I recall correctly.

 

[AlgaeEater]

Just finished the game again myself, so reading on this brings up a lot of interesting theories.

Bioware can go a few directions.

The easiest ending would be a massive fleet battle as described by a few people here. Not a lot of thought into it, lots of fist pumping and chest beating, and lots of cool CGI scenes. Kinda hard to pass up for the gaming crowd. Shallow but flashy.

Cliche ending is destroying all the ships via a mother-ship using a virus or blowing it from the inside out with explosives like the Collector base. They can pull a FreeSpace 2 ending by having all the ships enter the Mass Relay via Omega 4, intercepting the ships "while in hyperspace / warp" and closing the relay with all the reapers trapped inside that space.

"Friends now foe and foe now friends" ending will be involving the Rachni and Geth doing most of the work against the Reaper fleet (with help of everyone else), and Shepard will be busy taking down Cerberus. Cerberus could be working with Reapers since TiM may be controlled by them like Saren was.

And finally the funniest ending I've heard is that Shepard, Wrex, and Grunt all stare the reaper fleet down and they back away, ala Chuck Norris jokes.

 

[Westin24]

With the amount of time it would take them to get back it's possible there are certain condtions of deep space that the Reapers can manipulate to reach the Milky Way so quickly, the mass relay to the Citadel could purely strategic, as with Sovereign they don't want there invasion to be widely publicised as to draw in every race against them. Sovereign was defeated with a relatively small force compared to what each race actually has, I'm pretty sure that the Destiny Ascension was the only dreadnaught (besides Sovereign) used in the battle and according to a codex there are something like 100, give or take, between the Turians, Salarians, Asari and Humans. The Reapers would have the advantage but there are so many possibilites to defeat them, whether through the combined strength of everything you've gathered over the previous games or by something with more finesse then shooting some missiles in there general direction. The star may be used as a way to destroy at least some portion of the Reaper fleet, they wouldn't have any way of knowing that the star was dieing at all, perhaps Cerberus is even behind this.

It seems that they have been mixing in a few aspects of weather changing and stuff like that throughout ME1 and ME2, such as the side quest in ME1 where you discover that the geth have some ability to manipulate weather (although they were heretic geth tied in with the Reapers so this could still be all there doing) so this may have an impact on ME3.

With the resource thing somebody said that if they have to hybernate to reserve energy so how can they make the distance back to our galaxy? Whos to say that they still don't have massive amounts of resources. Why would they just sit active in space wasting fuel when they have the ability to hybernate?

I very much doubt that TIM has anything to do with the reapers considering everything he has done to prepare for them.

As far as the storyline in ME2 goes I believe there will be alot of underlying points that will contribute to ME3, the recruitment and survival of different team members may change how you can complete tasks or whether you can complete them at all, along with there loyalty, for example if Tali was exiled this may diminish your chances of rallying the Quarians effectively, if you saved the genophage cure with Mordin AND got Grunt into the the Urdnot clan AND they both survived this may affect your chances of recruiting the Krogans effectively, even Wrex surviving will add to this.

In my opinion you may end up recruiting the Rachni, Geth, Krogan, Cerberus, the Council races (they still don't believe you) and others I may have forgotten all due to choices in you have made in previous games. The Collector technology can also influence along with the strength of each of these forces.

I know I have been rambling for a bit so I'll stop now but I think there are far to many possibilites to just right off ME2's story line or pick apart every so called holes in the story until we see what they finish off with.

 

[MajorMullet]

I don't think it matters how ME2 ended. Here's how I think the whole series will end:

The final battle takes place in orbit around the planet where the original Normandy crashed. Shephard (let's say you named yours Jack) fights through the paralyzing swarmers (which look like black smoke) to reach his ultimate enemy (who is finished off by [insert chosen love interest here] with a single laser blast). However, Shephard is mortally wounded in the conflict.

He must make his way back through the enemy ship to the reactor so he can hit the self destruct button. He orders everyone off the ship and appoints Grunt as the new savior of the galaxy. As the final seconds count down, Shephard hits the button and the ship explodes. Shephard somehow ends up on the planet's surface near the original Normandy. He makes it to the briefing room where the first game started. As he lays down to take his final breaths, he looks up to see the new Normandy escaping. His eyes close and the game cuts to black.

In the epilogue, we will see all of the characters from the first two games gathered together in a Hanar church. The illusive man will be there to explain to Shephard that through the connections they all made during life, they were all able to meet there before moving on to the afterlife.

----

Bioware will release a statement saying that nothing in the series really mattered. They don't really have to explain anything about the reapers or where they came from. What's important is that it was a character-driven game series and the connections you make with the other characters is ultimately all that matters.

 

[Maximilian]

Right, but why are they en route now? What woke them up? I thought that since Sovereign couldn't communicate with the fleet through the citadel, the other reapers stayed "asleep" in deep space.

They were probably already awake, they were due to come through the citadel some time ago, they likely only started moving due to the destruction of the bug peoples base and their general who was controlled by a reaper who i assume was the lead reaper. I didnt 100% understand the reapers plan but i gather that human reaper may likely have been sovreigns replacement which would likely have launched a renewed attack on the citadel in an effort to open the gateway again but since that plan failed theyre just doing it the slow way and moving through space instead.

As to what woke them in the first place probably a timer lol being machines, or a need for more resources/energy/people goo or whatever it is they harvest from the galaxy every 50000 years.

EDIT: Thread is old and i already posted in it lol bahh

 

[Qbah]

(...)

----

Bioware will release a statement saying that nothing in the series really mattered. They don't really have to explain anything about the reapers or where they came from. What's important is that it was a character-driven game series and the connections you make with the other characters is ultimately all that matters.

Someone's still bitter about BSG