Which Mass Effect is best? We’re embarking on our own suicide mission by giving our verdicts on some of PC gaming’s most beloved series, including Dark Souls and Hearthstone.
I thought this would be easy. I know my personal ranking for the Mass Effect games. Ask and I’ll shout them out without hesitation, like a sleeper agent responding to a deeply embedded activation phrase. The problem is, everyone knows their personal ranking for the Mass Effect series and carries them as if the arrangement of a few numbers were the only universal truth they have.
But it’s easy to understand why we vary so wildly—the Mass Effect games are a collective space opera spanning over a hundred hours of love, death, and ancient alien doomsaying spun out in branching paths specific to the person that played them. Some players spent hours getting to know Wrex, others killed him immediately. Some thought Mordin a murderous, pompous dingbat while others gave him a chance for redemption. Some players punched every character they could, others kissed every character they could. It’s a BioWare game.
And each is just different enough to make enough distinctions between them in order to determine the One True Order for the Mass Effect series.
Now, in ascending order of goodness..
Mass Effect Andromeda
The promise of a new galaxy, far, far away was too much for Andromeda’s to handle. After 400 years of continuous space travel in one direction, somehow the new system has fewer alien races, less biodiversity, and even more banal ancient alien tech strewn about each planet. If only excavating a pyramid were as easy as solving a simple glyph-based Sudoku puzzle.
We’ve written about the problems we have with Andromeda at length: the enough to rank, the , the that are cool with colonization, and despite for quest design, the awful writing can’t sustain them.
Some of our bigger complaints, like the and excruciating have been tweaked in post-release patches, but they don’t detract from the larger truth that Mass Effect Andromeda is a game far too big for its own good. The open worlds are empty, lacking any natural curiosities besides quest markers. Southeast Idaho's black desert is a more interesting landscape than nearly any planet in the game. And chances are, that quest marker is just going to send you on an aimless trip all over the surface fetching items for short stories packing as much meaning as a weekly drunk text from my dad. It’s hard to imagine in this new setting with a similar structure.
Even so, no one else but Bioware makes games like this. There’s fun to be had in Mass Effect Andromeda, either in the customizable combat or in the occasional charming conversation with a crewmate. Just expect to sift through dozens of hours of cripplingly safe sci-fi to find something to love.
Mass Effect
Laying down a space base
Developed: BioWare Published: Electronic Arts
2007
The original Mass Effect is still a great game, but in the rearview, its flaws are clear as day. The combat is clunky, its pacing isn’t consistent, and planetary exploration is an empty vessel except for the occasional Thresher Maw. But each flaw represented early ideas that Mass Effect 2 and 3 crystallized in the long run.
Developed: BioWare Published: Electronic Arts
2007
The original Mass Effect is still a great game, but in the rearview, its flaws are clear as day. The combat is clunky, its pacing isn’t consistent, and planetary exploration is an empty vessel except for the occasional Thresher Maw. But each flaw represented early ideas that Mass Effect 2 and 3 crystallized in the long run.
Ashley or Kaidan?
One of the hardest decisions in Mass Effect is whether to save Ashley or Kaiden during the operation on Virmire. Who did you choose on your first playthrough? Any regrets?
Time hasn’t been kind to the combat. The vestiges of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic are still visible in the busy combat interface, and it’s obvious that those two ideologies—third-person shooting and actionbar RPG efficiency—failed to find a sweet spot until Mass Effect 2, and weren’t refined until Mass Effect 3. In the original game, you can aim directly at an enemy and miss because math. Tell the teachers of the world, scream it from the mountaintops. Math is bad.
While you’re at it, scream about the Mako. There are some people that choose to die on the Mako’s hill, which is a shame, because while it may align with one of the series’ greatest strengths in exploration, it doesn’t ever approach its full potential. At best, the Mako is a dopey physics turret on wheels that gets you to and fro. Otherwise, planetary exploration is limited to bouncing around empty terrain until a space worm eats you, or worse, you get stuck in the nonsensical mountain topography. I’m not sorry: The Mako Is Bad 2016™.
Grievances aside, Mass Effect’s greatest achievement is in how it introduces an entire galaxy and history with the most restrained and self-contained story of the bunch, featuring the series' most sympathetic villain by miles, Saren. He comes off as a stern, militaristic jerk, but discovering his true motives turn him from Videogame Bad Guy into a sympathetic, tragic character. He wants to form an alliance with the Reapers to prevent them from harvesting the whole of organic life. He wants to save the damn universe. Well shoot, that sounds nice.
Navigating Saren’s sabotage alongside the frustrating bureaucracy of the Citadel Council while grappling with privilege of becoming a Spectre—basically an intergalactic super cop—sets up some grounded (for sci-fi) moral and political dilemmas. Do you abuse your newfound power to sidestep and possibly supplant the Council? Or do you work with them despite their distrust of humanity?
No matter, the Reapers make their presence known and you’re forced to make some difficult decisions. And despite their apocalyptic prophesying, I remember the first time I completed Mass Effect, when the idea that I’d be playing two more games over the next five or so years with my Shepard dawned on me. Even though I didn’t like the combat or clumsy Mako rides much back then, I still felt a profound sense of excitement knowing my specific journey was far from over and that it would probably only get better from here. Mass Effect is an imperfect game, but laid a perfect foundation for a quickly ballooning universe that I’ve yet to tire of nearly 10 years later.
While you’re at it, scream about the Mako. There are some people that choose to die on the Mako’s hill, which is a shame, because while it may align with one of the series’ greatest strengths in exploration, it doesn’t ever approach its full potential. At best, the Mako is a dopey physics turret on wheels that gets you to and fro. Otherwise, planetary exploration is limited to bouncing around empty terrain until a space worm eats you, or worse, you get stuck in the nonsensical mountain topography. I’m not sorry: The Mako Is Bad 2016™.
Grievances aside, Mass Effect’s greatest achievement is in how it introduces an entire galaxy and history with the most restrained and self-contained story of the bunch, featuring the series' most sympathetic villain by miles, Saren. He comes off as a stern, militaristic jerk, but discovering his true motives turn him from Videogame Bad Guy into a sympathetic, tragic character. He wants to form an alliance with the Reapers to prevent them from harvesting the whole of organic life. He wants to save the damn universe. Well shoot, that sounds nice.
Navigating Saren’s sabotage alongside the frustrating bureaucracy of the Citadel Council while grappling with privilege of becoming a Spectre—basically an intergalactic super cop—sets up some grounded (for sci-fi) moral and political dilemmas. Do you abuse your newfound power to sidestep and possibly supplant the Council? Or do you work with them despite their distrust of humanity?
No matter, the Reapers make their presence known and you’re forced to make some difficult decisions. And despite their apocalyptic prophesying, I remember the first time I completed Mass Effect, when the idea that I’d be playing two more games over the next five or so years with my Shepard dawned on me. Even though I didn’t like the combat or clumsy Mako rides much back then, I still felt a profound sense of excitement knowing my specific journey was far from over and that it would probably only get better from here. Mass Effect is an imperfect game, but laid a perfect foundation for a quickly ballooning universe that I’ve yet to tire of nearly 10 years later.
Mass Effect 3
A nice try at goodbye
Developed: BioWare Published: EA
2012
Developed: BioWare Published: EA
2012
The Citadel DLC
Perhaps the best DLC add-on in the entire series, The Citadel was a sweet, subdued adventure that took place after the end of ME3 that reunites old friends and lovers with one last party.
It’s easy to forget that Mass Effect 3 wrapped up a dozen character arcs with a tight series of tremendous finales and elegant third person combat scenarios. Instead it gets an inordinate amount of flak for its final few minutes. I get it. Introducing a moral fulcrum in the form of a dead kid we know next to nothing about and in three assorted flavors (red, blue, or green) made the series conclusion feel more hamfisted than it had to. I made my robots and people into cyber plants with a green light or something—it was silly.
The ending and themes have their problems, sure, but fixating on them distracts from the otherwise excellent third act, especially in terms of what made Mass Effect 2 so great: character. For the dozens of pins Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 set up, Mass Effect 3 knocks a ton of them down, giving the majority of its characters and conflicts lovely goodbyes. In one of many, Mordin dies in poignant self-sacrifice as he comes to terms with the mistakes he made in engineering the genophage, and opts to disperse the cure before an explosion consumes him whole. Unless you shoot him to stop it, that is—or if a certain Krogan is clan leader, Mordin will disappear and fake his death. He may not even be in your game at all if he died in Mass Effect 2. The tall stack of variables Mass Effect 3 juggles and follows through on are staggering for how cohesive it feels, largely because the Reaper narrative needs a neat bow, and fast.
In Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, the Reapers were still coming, but they felt like a distant threat, an excuse to assemble a hodge podge team of sci-fi weirdos, and the best time to get to know someone is under the certainty of doom. But in Mass Effect 3, the Reapers are here, and by god, they’re levelling cities. The narrative manages to sandwich a galactic conflict with a satisfying series of character arcs in a batch of reunions that avoid playing like a sitcom reunion episode. Everyone is under a lot of pressure—saving organic life, and all—so nearly every mission carries the same urgency as the climax of Mass Effect 2. This comes at the expense of gathering an entirely new team and getting to know them (a BioWare staple) but if viewed as a direct extension of Mass Effect 2 rather than a game meant to stand on its own, it becomes much easier to appreciate Mass Effect 3 and the characters you’ve come to know over the course of the series.
Some are still with you, some have moved on. Tali, my BFF, returned to the Quarian fleet in a leadership role to take back their home planet from the Geth. I felt proud, watching her take charge. Wrex is a clan leader back on Tuchanka, leading the crusade for a cure to the genophage, a virus designed to make krogan females infertile. If Mordin manages to cure it, Wrex names his firstborn after him—you beautiful space lizard man, you. Each crewmember, new and old, still have individual stories, but because there’s no sidestepping the Reapers this time around, they all tie into the greater conflict, making Mass Effect 3 feel more urgent and swift than its predecessors.
And it’s because of this that many players found the ending so abrupt and insubstantial. Rather than getting a hyper specific ending that reflected the branching decisions of their Shepard’s life, the overall course of the series was much more parabolic, widening in Mass Effect 2, but ultimately sprinting to the same hokey decision point in Mass Effect 3. It’s not a great final impression, but more than any disappointment, I remember the faces I punched and kissed along the way.
And it’s because of this that many players found the ending so abrupt and insubstantial. Rather than getting a hyper specific ending that reflected the branching decisions of their Shepard’s life, the overall course of the series was much more parabolic, widening in Mass Effect 2, but ultimately sprinting to the same hokey decision point in Mass Effect 3. It’s not a great final impression, but more than any disappointment, I remember the faces I punched and kissed along the way.
Mass Effect 2
Mass Affect
Developed: BioWare Published: EA
2010
Developed: BioWare Published: EA
2010
Thane lust is real, cannot die
One of Mass Effect 2's most beloved characters is Thane, a humble, soft-spoken assassin with a kind heart. And nice abs. The undying thirst for Thane is representative of the love for ME2's characters, which isn't always so sweaty and difficult to Google at work. (Image source)
Mass Effect 2 represents a significant shift for the series and BioWare’s design sensibilities as whole, placing its greatest efforts into developing deep, interesting characters—sometimes at the expense of urgency, but ultimately in service of creating a much more personal experience.
It’s not the most refined game in the series, but Mass Effect 2 is fortunate enough to exist in a suspended state of expectation between what the first game set up and what the third was meant to fulfill. It doesn’t need to reintroduce the galaxy or tie up any loose ends, and because of that, it can play a little looser with its structure. The Collectors and Reaper threats are always lurking in the background, but never really thrust the larger narrative forward until the very end, which lends more time to Shepard and their crew to hang out and scour the galaxy for volunteers at their leisure. Despite the whole apocalypse scenario, there’s plenty of time to tend to each primary crew member’s particular problems via their loyalty questline. It’s a little too convenient, but worth the suspension of disbelief, because BioWare killed it with these characters.
Everyone has their favorite. I’m partial to Jack, a notorious criminal formerly locked away in a Cerberus test facility and mercilessly poked and prodded for the sake of science. She didn’t have a pleasant childhood, to say the least. I earned her loyalty by addressing her trauma in the most direct way we could: by planting a bomb in the test facility she was raised in. We fell in love despite our equally hard exteriors and learned to cry again (in private). My Shepard was an orphan, raised on the streets of some dirty megacity on Earth. Jack and I, we got each other, you know?
It’s not the most refined game in the series, but Mass Effect 2 is fortunate enough to exist in a suspended state of expectation between what the first game set up and what the third was meant to fulfill. It doesn’t need to reintroduce the galaxy or tie up any loose ends, and because of that, it can play a little looser with its structure. The Collectors and Reaper threats are always lurking in the background, but never really thrust the larger narrative forward until the very end, which lends more time to Shepard and their crew to hang out and scour the galaxy for volunteers at their leisure. Despite the whole apocalypse scenario, there’s plenty of time to tend to each primary crew member’s particular problems via their loyalty questline. It’s a little too convenient, but worth the suspension of disbelief, because BioWare killed it with these characters.
Everyone has their favorite. I’m partial to Jack, a notorious criminal formerly locked away in a Cerberus test facility and mercilessly poked and prodded for the sake of science. She didn’t have a pleasant childhood, to say the least. I earned her loyalty by addressing her trauma in the most direct way we could: by planting a bomb in the test facility she was raised in. We fell in love despite our equally hard exteriors and learned to cry again (in private). My Shepard was an orphan, raised on the streets of some dirty megacity on Earth. Jack and I, we got each other, you know?
This is just one of 12 crew members, each with their own recruitment and loyalty missions, and distinct, flawed personalities. It’s through these relationships that Mass Effect 2 does its most potent world-building—not grand open world exploration levels and blockbuster spectacle, but through how a character speaks, what they’re wearing, what they perceive as kindness, if they can perceive kindness, their treatment of one another, and so on. For example, it becomes clear pretty quickly that the Krogan are a proud, aggressive species, but understanding why and how is an exercise in empathy, which is key in nearly every companion questline. Turns out, Krogan can be pretty chill (which Mordin learned tragically late).
This isn’t to say it’s just an expensive visual novel. Mass Effect 2 also revamped the combat into a fluid tactical third person shooter with expressive RPG trappings and a heavier focus on real time interactions. It wasn’t truly refined until Mass Effect 3, but it streamlined the management of squad members and their individual abilities without stripping away complexity. You can play it like a third person shooter without ever pausing, or you can freeze time as you like, moving members and deploying abilities like a sci-fi middle manager due for a promotion.
All this, driven by a sense of impending doom through the slow unravelling of the mystery surrounding the Collectors, and one of the best hooks in RPG history: prepping for a suicide mission. The high stakes aren’t trivialized either—you’re heading into the Collector base, a pulsing hive of powerful ancient technology controlled by the Reapers where it’s possible for you and everyone you bring along to die. And if they don’t survive, it’s probably your fault. I lost Thane and still feel pangs of guilt when I remember. A fictional character with green skin and bug eyes! Guilt!
Mass Effect 2 is the best in the series because it dedicates so much time to building such meaningful relationships, and then puts them at great risk. Sure, it’s a shiny, action-packed space romp, but above all else, Mass Effect 2 is an exciting, moving collection of sci-fi vignettes about love and loss.
This isn’t to say it’s just an expensive visual novel. Mass Effect 2 also revamped the combat into a fluid tactical third person shooter with expressive RPG trappings and a heavier focus on real time interactions. It wasn’t truly refined until Mass Effect 3, but it streamlined the management of squad members and their individual abilities without stripping away complexity. You can play it like a third person shooter without ever pausing, or you can freeze time as you like, moving members and deploying abilities like a sci-fi middle manager due for a promotion.
All this, driven by a sense of impending doom through the slow unravelling of the mystery surrounding the Collectors, and one of the best hooks in RPG history: prepping for a suicide mission. The high stakes aren’t trivialized either—you’re heading into the Collector base, a pulsing hive of powerful ancient technology controlled by the Reapers where it’s possible for you and everyone you bring along to die. And if they don’t survive, it’s probably your fault. I lost Thane and still feel pangs of guilt when I remember. A fictional character with green skin and bug eyes! Guilt!
Mass Effect 2 is the best in the series because it dedicates so much time to building such meaningful relationships, and then puts them at great risk. Sure, it’s a shiny, action-packed space romp, but above all else, Mass Effect 2 is an exciting, moving collection of sci-fi vignettes about love and loss.
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UnlockablesSuccessfully complete the indicated task to unlock the corresponding bonus the next time a new game is started. Once the game is completed, the 'New Game +' option is also unlocked, which allows you to use your existing character with previously earned equipment and skills.
- +10% Damage Reduction: Get the 'Soldier Ally' achievement.
- +10% Damping and Overload reduced cooldown: Have a 75% game completion with Garrus in your squad.
- +10% Experience: Reach level 60.
- +10% Hardening: Have a 75% game completion with Ashley in your squad.
- +10% Health: Kill 150 Organic enemies.
- +10% Lift and Throw reduced cooldown: Have a 75% game completion with Kaiden in your squad.
- +10% Sabotage and AI Hacking reduced cooldown: Have a 75% game completion with Tali in your squad.
- +10% Shield: Kill 250 Synthetic enemies.
- +10% Shield Strength: Successfully complete the game with shield damage greater than health damage.
- +10% Stasis and Barrier reduced cooldown: Have a 75% game completion with Liara in your squad.
- +25% Marksman reduced cooldown: Get 150 kills with the pistol.
- +5% Experience: Reach level 50 with a character.
- +5% Weapon Damage: Successfully complete the game two times.
- Assault Rifle skill for new characters: Get 150 kills with the assault rifle.
- Barrier skill for new characters: Use Barrier 75 times.
- Decryption skill for new characters: Use Sabotage 75 times.
- Electronics skill for new characters: Use Overload 75 times.
- First Aid skill for new characters: Use Medi-gel 150 times.
- Hacking skill for new characters: Use AI Hacking 75 times.
- Medicine Skill for new characters: Use Neural Hacking 75 times.
- Stasis skill for new characters: Use Stasis 75 times.
- Throw skill for new characters: Use Throw 75 times.
- Warp skill for new characters: Use Warp 75 times.
- Hardcore difficulty: Successfully complete the game.
- Insane difficulty: Successfully complete the game on the Hardcore difficulty.
- Level 60 level cap: Successfully complete the game.
- Lift skill (for non-Biotics): Use Lift 75 times.
- Prestige Class: Reach level 34.
- Regenerate 1 health per second: Have a 75% game completion with Wrex in your squad.
- Shielding skill for new characters: Use Dampening 75 times.
- Shotgun skill for new characters: Get 150 kills with the shotgun.
- Singularity skill for new characters: Use 'Singularity' 75 times.
- Sniper Rifle skill for new characters: Get 150 kills with the sniper rifle.
- Spectre grade weapons for purchase: Get 1 million credits. The weapons are available through the Normandy and C-Sec Requisitions Officers.
To play the hidden mission in the Plutus system of the Hades Gamma Cluster, get 75% Renegade. To play the hidden mission in the Cacus system, get 75% Paragon.
Infinite creditsThe following trick only works between the two indicated vendors. You can usually buy items back from Expat at half the price you sold them to Dr. Michel for. First, successfully complete the side quest involving Dr. Michel (from the Med Clinic) and her blackmailer. After the quest is complete, you will get a discount from all the goods she sells. Start selling her all of your expensive equipment. Then, travel to the Wards Markets, and talk to the merchant named Expat. You can buy all of your items back for cheaper than you sold them for. Return to Dr. Michel, and sell her all of your items again. Repeat this process as many times as desired.
Infinite Paragon pointsGo to your Galaxy Map, and travel to the Attican Beta cluster. You will receive a message from the Alliance Command telling you about a downed recon probe that you must retrieve a data module from. From there, travel to the Hercules system, and continue to the planet Eletania. After you reach the downed probe, you will discover that a monkey-like native has made off with the data module. Get back in the Mako, and go to your map. You will see three native colonies. Go towards the one in the middle of the three. Then, go into the mining shaft, and proceed through the tunnels until you reach the end. Search the two monkeys in that part of the shaft. One of them will have the data module. Save the game immediately after getting the module. Then, reload the saved game, and continue to press A to keep searching the monkey that had the data module. Your Paragon meter over the radar should increase each time you select the monkey. At approximately 300 Paragon, you will get the 'Paragon' achievement. Note: If you have already completed this assignment, this glitch cannot be done.
Infinite Paragon and Renegade pointsOn the Noveria planet, go to the hotel bar, and look for a Turian named Lorik Qui'in. Accept his quest to steal the data from his office. Once you get the data, the receptionist will ask you to get Qui'in to testify. Tell her you will do it, and then talk to Qui'in. Tell Qui'in that he should testify (top left option). When he refuses, select the Charm option (top left) for Paragon points or the Intimidate (bottom left) for Renegade points, and end the conversation. Talk to him again, and ask about the Matriarch. When he gets done talking about her, select the 'Other questions' option (bottom right). You should now have the option to ask him to testify again (top left). He will refuse, and you will be able to use the Charm or Intimidate option again to gain another 24 Paragon or Renegade points. Repeat this process as many times as desired. You can also easily get the 'Paragon' and 'Renegade' achievements with the glitch.
Easy creditsIn Quasar, bet Y on odd and X on even.
Easy experience pointsTo gain extra experience from battles, make sure to get out of the Mako for the final hit. You can weaken the stronger enemies from inside the Mako and then get out to finish them off. You will only get 60% of the experience if you kill enemies with the Mako.
Easy Mako repairsIf your Mako is badly damaged and you do not want to or cannot spend Omni-gel to repair it, save your game, and reload it. Your Mako should now be totally repaired.
Weapon that does not overheatGet a HMWA X assault rifle with Frictionless Materials, Combat Optics X, and Snowblind Rounds X as upgrades.
Saving weapon pointsIf you are a Soldier, level up weapons so you can use their bonuses and no further. For example, carnage is the shotgun's bonus. By doing this, you will have extra points for a desired weapon and points to level everything else completely out. You do not need the damage and accuracy bonus from the points because when you become a Spectre the best of every weapon becomes unlocked in the Normandy or at the C-SEC requisitions office.
Lethal snipingEquip any good sniper rifle (powerful and accurate) with High Explosive Rounds (highest level preferably). This combination will kill nearly every normal enemy it directly hits, and severely damage enemies in their proximity, if not killing them as well. For fun, if you shoot at the enemy's feet or the ground he is standing directly on top of, he will jettison into the air. Note: High Explosive Rounds work best only with sniper rifles as they are meant to kill with one shot. If it is used with a pistol, assault rifle, or shotgun, the weapon will overheat in less than five shots (depending on the type of weapon), regardless of upgrades and decency of the gun. This will make yourself vulnerable to enemies.
Recommended weapon upgradesThe best weapon upgrades on any gun are Frictionless Materials X (28% heat damping, +7% damage), Kinetic Coil X (28% weapon stability, +7% damage), and Slegdehammer Rounds X (50% weapons force, + 60% poison damage, - 20 heat damping). Overall, the weapons stats you will end up with are 14% damage, +28 weapon stability, +50% weapon force, +60 poison, +8% heat damping. The poison damage also prevents shield regeneration. Also, any of the following combo of any grade is the best.
To build the most powerful weapons in the game, use the following. For pistols, assault rifles, and shotguns, use Frictionless Materials, Scram Rail, and Inferno Rounds. Once you can get the 'X' level equipment, these will be the most powerful weapons in the game, but the combination should be used at any point you find these materials. For the sniper rifle, use two Frictionless Materials and High Explosive Rounds. The assault rifle will not overheat much at all, but for an assault rifle that does not overheat, you can use two Scram Rails and Snowblind Rounds. It is not as powerful as the first method, but is efficient.
Finding all elementsThe best way to find the elements, minerals, and anomalies on planets that you can explore is to drive along the edges of the operational area (the red area). Drive the Mako in a circle around the area to where you can barely see the edge of the red line. You should find at least two elements/minerals on each planet that can be explored. There are rare things that will not show up on your map -- you will also have to drive around like this to find them. There are several more items than you are required to find, but it is good to go ahead and get them if you need the experience points. Also, if you say the correct things to the Asari Consort, she will give you a trinket that will allow you to activate a Prothean Orb found on Eletania, or the 'monkey' planet, in the Hercules system. It contains the memories of a Cro-Magnon that was observed by the Protheans. The Orb will show up as an anomaly on your map, in the lower left corner.
N7 GamerpicSuccessfully complete the game on the Insanity difficulty setting to unlock the N7 Gamerpic.
Saren GamerpicSuccessfully complete the game on the Hardcore difficulty setting to unlock the Saren Gamerpic.
Character classesAdepts
Adepts are biotic specialists. Starting out equipped with pistols and light armor, the true strength of the adept is through the upgradeable implants that give them their biotic powers. These powers can be used to lift or throw objects, shield the party, and disable or destroy enemies.
Engineers
Engineers are tech specialists. Using the holographic OmniTool, they can decrypt security systems, repair and/or modify technical equipment, disrupt enemy weapons or shields, and heal their party. Even though they begin the game with only pistols and the OmniTool, engineers can unlock the ability to wear light armor and reverse engineer enemy technology. They can also learn to put up protective shields and heal the party.
Infiltrators
Infiltrators combine combat and tech abilities, and specialize in killing or disabling enemies at long range. Infiltrators are trained to use OmniTools, but the focus is on decryption and offensive abilities rather than healing. They can train with pistols or sniper rifles, and can learn to wear medium armor.
Sentinels
Sentinels combine biotic and tech abilities. Typically they use biotic abilities and advanced healing skills to defend allies, though they can also disrupt opponents with biotic or Tech attacks. They are more efficient at tech and biotics than other classes, but at the expense of combat. Sentinels can only use light armor, and receive no advanced weapon training.
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Soldiers
Soldiers are combat specialists ideal for the front lines of a firefight. Soldiers begin the game trained with skills in both pistols and assault rifles, they have improved health and the ability to wear medium combat armor. As you progress through the game, you can unlock assault training, skills with shotguns and sniper rifles, become able to perform first aid on yourself and party members, and wear heavy combat armor.
Vanguards
Vanguards are biotic warriors. They combine offensive biotic abilities and weapons training to quickly take down opponents, and are especially deadly at short range. They can train with pistols and shotguns, and can learn to wear medium armor.
Play as a War Hero Soldier first. By doing this, during your second play through you will have all of the money, weapons, and armor to use for the other careers.
Ensuring experience points and gamerpointsAfter a major plot has been played, make sure to talk to your crew. This will give you experience points for clues and boost your crew's morale. There is also a subplot for romance where you must choose who you want to have a relation with. You may lose the gamerpoints if you do not talk to the crew.
Avoiding lagging game playEvery once in a while you may encounter a slow down on graphics and game play. If you have been playing for less than three hours and see the 'Loading' text, release your controller for faster loads. If you have been playing for over three hours and the game play slows down, save and reboot your Xbox 360. This happens because the Xbox 360 does not have an efficient way of clearing its memory for new information. Once the memory is saturated, the 'lagging' game play happens. Because Mass Effect is so massive and everything is unique, it uses all of the available memory.
Mako controlsPress RB: Fire rockets.
Press RT: Fire main gun.
Press A: Undercarriage Rockets. This is useful for getting 'unstuck', setting the Mako upright if upside down, and stabilizing from falling off a mountain.
Press X: Return to the Nomandy.
Press B: Exit Mako for on-foot exploration.
Hold LT: First person view.
Click Right Analog-stick while pressing LT: Zoom. Click it again for additional zoom. Click it again to exit zoom.
After you speak to Chorban in the Citadel Tower, he will request that you scan the Keepers to collect data. There are 21 Keepers total throughout the compound. You will forfeit the chance to do this sidequest if you complete Jahleed's Fears. Here is a list of their locations:
Wards
- One is in the hanger bay through C-Sec.
- One is in the right-most room in the Presidium Wards Access corridor.
- One is in the alleyway next to the market and Choras Den.
- One is in the upper market area.
- One is in the C-Sec Requisition Office.
- One is in the Traffic Control Room in C-Sec.
- One is inside Flux, by the quasar machines in the back left.
- One is to the right of the Med Clinic entrance.
- One is at the C-Sec Academy entrance.
Presidium
- Four are inside Citadel Tower.
- One is in the back room of the Emporium, left turn.
- One is on the balcony of the Embassy lounge.
- One is in the rectangular room at the right of the C-Sec HQ at the embassy.
- One is outside Citadel Tower to the left of Avina.
- One is in the Volus/Elcor office at the Embassy.
- One is opposite of Avina, halway between the Consort Chambers and the Emporium.
- One is outside the entrance of the Consort Chambers.
- One is outside the Wards Access entrance, very close to the arguing Preaching Hana and C-Sec officer.
While in the FLux, you will see a Quasar Machine that has a strange signal coming from it. It traces to the following place in order:
Wards Access Corridor: From the Medical Clinic, go to and up the elevator that takes you toward the Presidium. Take this corridor to a little area where people are talking. Check the terminal on the wall.
Financial District: Check Volus' Office, behind Volus.
Emporium: Turn right coming out of Volus' office, and go past the Emporium Shopkeeper to a back hallway. Then, turn right again. Here you will encounter an A.I. that threatens to blow you and itself up. After the conversation, select the A.I., and input the following code to override: Y, X, Y, A, X, A, A. Finish before it is done Siphoning off credits, and you will get those credits. The amount varies, but you will get more the faster you enter the override code.
In the ExoGeni facility, there are several claws that feed power that must be terminated to continue the mission. You will come across a control panel for the Shuttle Bay Door Controls. This panel has five switches of different pressures:
- (5 PSI Valve) (7 PSI Valve) (17 PSI Valve) (11 PSI Valve) (13 PSI Valve)
The objective is to add just enough pressure to fill the gauge between the two arrows. Too much will reset the puzzle and you will have to play with different combinations. Once a correct pressure is reached, the bar will turn yellow and text under it will read 'WARNING, HIGH PRESSURE'. Enter 7, 11, and 13, then activate. This will create enough pressure to break the claw and deactivate the Geth power being flushed into ExoGeni.
Puzzle solution in NoveriaOn the planet Noveria, you must solve a puzzle after you enter the Core at Mira to restore activity to the compound. The solution is as follows. There are three columns. Four discs are in the left column. You must move all four discs to column two or three for the puzzle to be completed. '1' indicates the upper most ring, '4' is the lowest, etc.
Step 1
- Move 1 to the middle.
- Move 2 to the right.
- Move 1 to the right on top of 2.
- Move 3 to the middle.
Step 2
- Move 1 to the left.
- Move 2 to the middle on top of 3.
- Move 1 to the middle on top of 2.
- Move 4 to the right.
Step 3
- Move 1 to the right.
- Move 2 to the left.
- Move 1 to the left on top of 2.
- Move 3 to the right on top of 4.
Step 4
- Move 1 to the middle.
- Move 2 to the right.
- Move 1 to the right.
These steps will solve the puzzle with all four discs being in the right column.
Defeating the giant worm in EdolusDuring the mission about the missing Marines, you will encounter a large worm creature. To defeat it, jump just before the projectile acid the worm spits, and attack it with missiles (RB) and constant gunfire (RT).
Defeating Thresher Maw in EdolusThe easiest way to defeat the Thresher Maw is after it has initially launched out of the ground to drive off, stay at a relative distance, and drive circles around it while firing. Because of your distance, it will not use its long-ranged attack or be able to cause melee damage. It will go back underground after a time or certain amount of damage is inflicted and will change the location it pops up. Repeat the circular attack to get away undamaged.
Defeating Saren (before resurrection)Use your rifle and strafe to avoid his rocket fire. Alternately, use the following trick to defeat Sarren without fighting him the first time in the Citadel. If you have your Charm or Intimidation all the way up, use the new chat options. You will eventually make Sarren kill himself.
Defeating Saren (after resurrection)Have your crew and yourself use biotic powers everytime Saren stops to shoot (usually when he is hanging on the wall). Only do it once when he stops, otherwise you will be wasting abilities.
Reversed EarthOnce you have landed on Luna, Earth's moon, look for the view of Earth. When you zoom in on Earth, noticed that its image is reversed. For example, Florida is where California should be and vice versa.
'Scholar' achievement codex locationsThis achievement requires that you locate information on all primary Alien: Council Races, Extinct Races, and Non-Council Races.
Aliens: Council Races
Asari: Speak with Captain Anderson after the first meeting with the council.
Salarians: Speak with Captain Anderson after the first meeting with the council.
Turians: If you miss it at the beginning of the game, you can get it by speaking to people about Specters and Saran. Otherwise, it should appear after your first encounter with Ashley.
Aliens: Extinct Races
Rachni: Speak with the VI Avina near the Consort Chambers/Krogran Statue about the Rachni wars.
Protheans: Speak with Captain Anderson and Nihlus on the Normandy at the beginning of the game in the Communications Room. This is your only chance in the game to get this codex. If you miss it, you will not be able to recover it later in the game.
Aliens: Non-Council Races
Batarians: After you become a Spectre, speak with Captain Anderson about his Spectre activities at the Docking Bay.
Elcor: Speak with the diplomat Calyn in the embassy. He is located at the end of the hallway to the right of the Embassy Clerk next to Udina's office.
Geth: While on the mission Eden Prime you will receive this codex automatically.
Hanar: Speak with the Hanar Shopkeeper at the Emporium.
Keepers: Speak with the VI Avina in the northwest part of the Presidium. She is very close to the Preaching Hanar and C-Sec Turian whom are arguing.
Krogan: You get this automatically by entering Choras Den. A scene will play showing the Krogran Wrex.
Quarians: Speak with Garrus in the medical center after fighting the thugs.
Volus: Talk to the VI Avina closest to the Embassy Clerk. You will get this by asking the VI why the Volus were the first race to get an embassy.
Find a planet that has a Hazard level 1. Stand outside the Mako, and keep pressing Y. Keep track of how many times you pressed [Heal]. If you do not pay attention and run out of Medi-Gel, you could die from the Hazard level.
Easy ally achievementsUse the following trick to unlock all six ally achievements with only three playthroughs. When you start the game, focus on getting all six of your teammates. Choose two of them to play through the game with. Keep those two until you complete the majority of the game. You will get the ally achievement for the teammate you recruited first. After you get it, replace that teammate with another one as soon as possible. After the next assignment you complete, you will then unlock the ally achievement for the second teammate.
Easy skill achievementsThe quickest way to get the skill achievements (Lift, Sabotage, Warp, etc.) is to stand outside the Mako and use it for a target. Do each skill with your current character 75 times to get the achievements for each one. However, there are two things to note. First, Neuroshock does damage to the Mako. When you see it beginning to smoke, you must repair it. Second, AI Hacking does not apply. You will need to actually hack 75 AIs or hack a few repeatedly before you must destroy them. The best way to get this achievement is to play the mission where you must go to the Earth's moon, or 'Luna', and stop the AIs in the training facility. Save the game before you go into one of the bunkers, and keep hacking them until you are finished, or reload and play again.
AchievementsAccomplish the indicated achievement to get the corresponding number of Gamerscore points:
- Medal of Honor (100 points): Complete one Mass Effect Playthrough on any setting.
- Medal of Heroism (25 points): Complete Feros.
- Distinguished Service Medal (25 points): Complete Eden Prime.
- Council Legion of Merit (25 points): Complete Virmire.
- Honorarium of Corporate Service (25 points): Complete Noveria.
- Long Service Medal (25 points): Complete 2 Mass Effect Playthroughs on any setting.
- Distinguished Combat Medal (25 points): Complete one Mass Effect playthrough on the Hardcore difficulty setting. Do not change the setting.
- Medal of Valor (50 points): Complete one Mass Effect playthrough on the Insanity difficulty setting. Do not change the setting.
- Pistol Expert (10 points): Register 150 Pistol Kills.
- Shotgun Expert (15 points): Register 150 Shotgun Kills.
- Assault Rifle Expert (15 points): Register 150 Assault Rifle Kills.
- Sniper Expert (15 points): Register 150 Sniper Rifle Kills.
- Lift Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Lift 75 times.
- Throw Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Throw 75 times.
- Warp Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Warp 75 times.
- Singularity Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Singularity 75 times.
- Barrier Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Barrier 75 times.
- Stasis Mastery (15 points): Use biotic Stasis 75 times.
- Damping Specialist (15 points): Use Damping Field 75 times.
- AI Hacking Specialist (15 points): Use AI Hacking 75 times.
- Overlord Specialist (15 points): Use Shield Overload 75 times.
- Sabotage Specialist (15 points): Use Sabotage 75 times.
- First Aid Specialist (15 points): Use medi-gel 150 times.
- Neural Shock Specialist (15 points): Use Neural Shock 75 times.
- Scholar (25 points): Find all primary Alien: Council Races, Extinct Races and Non-Council Races codex entries.
- Completionist (25 points): Complete the majority of the game.
- Tactician (25 points): Complete playthrough with shield damage greater than health damage.
- Medal of Exploration (50 points): Land on an uncharted world.
- Rich (25 points): Exceed 1,000,000 Credits.
- Dog of War (25 points): Register 150 organic enemy kills.
- Geth Hunter (25 points): Register 250 Synthetic enemy kills.
- Soldier Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance soldier squad member.
- Sentinal Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Alliance sentinel squad member.
- Krogan Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Krogan squad member.
- Turian Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Turian squad member.
- Quarian Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Querian squad member.
- Asari Ally (20 points): Complete the majority of the game with the Asari squad member.
- Power Gamer (20 points): Reach 50th level with one character.
- Extreme Power Gamer (50 points): Reach 60th level with one character.
- Renegade (15 points): Accumulate 75% of total Renegade points.
- Paragon (15 points): Accumulate 75% of total Paragon points.
- Paramour (10 points): Complete any romance subplot.
- Spectre Inductee (15 points): Become a Spectre.
- Charismatic (10 points): Use Charm or Intimidate to resolve an impossible situation.
- Search and Rescue (10 points): Locate Dr. T'Soni in the Artemis Tau cluster.
The following achievement requires the 'Bring Down The Sky' bonus downloadable content:
- Colonial Savior (50 points): Complete the Bring Down the Sky mission.
The following achievements require the 'Pinnacle Station' bonus downloadable content:
- Undisputed (50 points): Complete Ahern's survival mission.
- New Sheriff in Town (50 points): Take first place in any combat scenario on Pinnacle Station.
- Best of the Best (50 points): Take first place in 12 combat scenarios on Pinnacle Station points.
Was it fate or destiny that brought him to where he was now? Was it fate that brought him to Elysium? Was it fate that brought him to the Normandy? Was it destiny that brought him to beat Saren and the Collectors? And perhaps the most common question: was it his destiny to have defeated the Reapers and saved the galaxy? Or was it just a matter of fately steps that led him to that course? These were the questions the galaxy asked after the day was won. Those were the questions the eternally grateful galaxy asked after Commander Shepard disappeared.
After Shepard saves the galaxy from the Reapers, he is somehow thrown into the world of Thedas. There he finds a new world’s growing list of problems. Instead of sitting out this one, he charges into battle in order to help out his new allies and do his part in saving this new world of aliens and monsters. Who knew he’d have to save the world yet again? That is, if he doesn’t get killed by magic or dragons or whatever the hell that giant hole in the sky is. Garrus sure owes him that drink.
Ever since the first game, Mass Effect has always been about shaping the story the way the player wants it. Through Shepard's actions, players could create millions upon millions of iterations of the same universe. We decided to take a look back at the series—specifically, on some of the decisions our Shepards had to make on the way to becoming the galaxy's most badass warrior. Caution: A huge amount of spoilers for all three games follow.
Note: This article assumes that every squad member was present, loyal, and survived in Mass Effect 2.
Mass Effect 1
Shepard's Service History
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Before the story starts, two things must be determined. Shepard's background:
- Spacer: Shepard was raised on ships and space stations by his Alliance soldier parents.
- Colonist: Shepard grew up on Mindoir, a colony which eventually gets attacked by Batarian slavers.
- Earthborn: Shepard grew up an orphan on the streets on Earth.
and psychological profile:
- War Hero: Shepard, at one point, risked their life to save fellow soldiers, and single-handedly dealt with a Batarian attack on Elysium.
- Sole Survivor: Shepard's unit fell to a thresher maw attack on Akuze, leaving Shepard to fight for survival against all odds on his own.
- Ruthless: A pragmatic, brutal Shepard once sent most of their unit to their death, then killed a group of surrendering Batarians on Torfan.
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These choices confer unique missions, bonuses to Paragon or Renegade points, and extra conversation options.
Shepard's Morality
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Through the player's choices, Shepard can become a shining example of the best of humanity, a compassionate, heroic Paragon. Or, Shepard can be a brutal, calculating Renegade who stops at nothing to get the job done.
Noveria: Administrator Anoleis
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Searching for Saren on Noveria, Shepard lands the Normandy in Port Hanshan. The place is in lockdown due to bad weather, on Administrator Anoleis' orders. Shepard need to grab a garage pass before they can follow Saren. There are several ways to do this:
- Opold, a Hanar merchant, asks Shepard to help him smuggle in an illegal weapon mod. Agreeing to do so and giving his package to Administrator Anoleis gets Shepard a garage pass.
- Lorik Qui'in, a local businessman, can be talked to. He tells Shepard that Anoleis is corrupt, and there's evidence of this on a computer at his offices. Shepard has to retrieve the evidence for Lorik in exchange for a garage pass.
- Gianna Parasini, Anoleis' administrative assistant, at one point reveals herself as an undercover investigator trying to prove Anoleis' corruption. In exchange for convincing Lorik to testify against Anoleis, Parasini hands Shepard a garage pass.
- Shepard can also either give Anoleis the evidence against him for a garage pass, or reveal Parasini's identity to him. In this case, they shoot each other and a pass can be looted off Anoleis' dead body.
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Noveria: The Rachni Queen
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On Peak 15, Binary Helix, a corporation controlled in part by Saren, has been cloning Rachni, a long-disappeared race of deadly insectoids. Saren plans to use the cloned Rachni as soldiers. Their queen can be found after dealing with Matriarch Benezia, Saren's assistant. The queen can either be destroyed outright, or let go.
Feros: Zhu's Hope
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Shepard arrives on Feros, looking to investigate why Saren sent Geth to attack the planet.
- Exogeni Corporation, the people who founded Zhu's Hope, the Feros colony Shepard landed the Normandy at, have ordered their local representative, Ethan Jeong, to purge the colony to get rid of any evidence of their practices. He can be convinced that the colony is still worth something to Exogeni, at which point he'll back down; or, he can simply be shot.
- The Thorian, an ancient mind-controlling creature living under Zhu's Hope, has taken control of the colonists who need to be neutralized somehow. Shepard can choose to incapacitate them with melee attacks or special nerve gas grenades, or kill them outright.
- The Thorian has also been using a green-skinned Asari as a template for cloned soldiers. Shepard can decide that she's too dangerous to let live, or let her go.
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Bring Down the Sky: Balak
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A group of batarian terrorist hijacked an asteroid, and are trying to crash it into the human colony world of Terra Nova. Their leader, Balak, when confronted, offers Shepard a choice: either let him go, or fight him at the cost of the lives of his hostages, whose cell he has booby-trapped with explosives.
Virmire: Wrex
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Shepard travels to Virmire in search of a Salarian recon team who has information on Saren. Here, it is revealed that Saren has found a cure to the Krogan's artificial genetic disease, the Genophage, and is using it to breed an army of Krogan. They agree that the cure needs to be destroyed, but Wrex, Shepard's Krogan squadmate, is furious at this. He can be convinced to follow Shepard into battle; otherwise, he has to be killed.
Virmire: Ashley or Kaidan
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Shepard and the crew plant a bomb in Saren's facility to destroy it. Squadmates Kaidan and Ashley play important roles here: one of them leads the Salarian recon team, while the other arms the bomb. The Geth begin to overwhelm the two groups, and Shepard needs to decide whether to save Ashley or Kaidan. The one left behind dies in the bomb blast.
Saving the Council
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In the battle for the Citadel at the end of the game, the fleet's flagship, the Destiny Ascension, with the Citadel Council on board, gets under a lot of fire from the Geth attackers. Shepard can order the fleet to assist the Destiny Ascension, saving both the ship and the council. Alternatively, the fleet can be ordered to focus on the Reaper leading the Geth, Sovereign, in which case the council is lost.
The New Council
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Depending on whether the council survives the battle, there are two outcomes:
- The original council is lost, and a new one is formed. Whether this is a multi-species council or a human council depends on Shepard's renegade score. Shepard can then recommend either Ambassador Udina or Captain Anderson to be the chairman.
- The council is saved, and they offer humanity a seat. Shepard has to name either Udina or Anderson humanity's representative.
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Mass Effect 2
Veetor
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Shepard heads to the human colony of Freedom's Progress to find out what happened to its inhabitants, who suddenly disappeared. They are met with resistance from the colony's mech defense force. Veetor, a Quarian, who gave the mechs the command to attack because he feared for his life, is confronted at the end of the mission. He can be sent back to the Migrant Fleet to recover, or shipped off to Cerberus for interrogation.
Loyalty: Mordin
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Mordin has to head to Tuchanka, the Krogan homeworld, to rescue a former colleague of his, Maelon, with whom he has worked on the Genophage. There, he discovers that the mercenaries who took him didn't actually take him; he agreed to work with them on a cure, out of guilt for what he's unleashed with the Genophage.
- At this point, Mordin will try to shoot Maelon. Shepard can convince him not to.
- Then, Shepard can decide what to do with Maelon's data. Mordin can be told to save it, or destroy it.
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Loyalty: Jacob
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Jacob receives word of a distress call originating from the planet Aeia, where the ship his father, Ronald Taylor, served on crash-landed. While exploring the crash site, Shepard and Jacob discover that at one point, the ship's officers and crew were divided into two groups, with the officers hoarding all the food. The crew had to survive on the toxic plantlife, which eventually rendered them either amnesic or insane. Ronald, the only officer left, ruled over the survivors using the remaining mechs. Eventually, Shepard and Jacob confront him.
- Ronald can be taken into custody, and sent off to prison.
- He can also be left on the planet at the mercy of the remaining crew, potentially with a gun he can use to commit suicide before the crew can get to him.
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Loyalty: Miranda
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Miranda's father is planning to kidnap her sister, Oriana, and she asks for Shepard's help with getting rid of her kidnappers. They ultimately succeed, and Oriana can continue her life—albeit without knowing who helped her. Miranda can be convinced to give up the facade and reveal herself to her.
Loyalty: Jack
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Jack travels to Pragia, where she was experimented on by Cerberus as a little girl. There, they find Aresh, a fellow survivor of the experiments who plans to restart the facility. Shepard can convince Jack to let Aresh go, or order her to kill him.
Loyalty: Garrus
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Garrus finds out that Sidonis, the man who betrayed him and got his team killed on Omega, is on the Citadel. He asks Shepard to help lure him out and kill him. Before he actually pulls the trigger, Shepard can convince Garrus to let Sidonis go instead.
Loyalty: Samara
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Samara asks for Shepard's help with tracking down her Ardat-Yakshi daughter, Morinth. Since Ardat-Yakshi are essentially vampires, and huge dangers to society, she needs to hunt her down and kill her. Eventually, Samara and Shepard confront Morinth. Shepard can decide to help Morinth, which results in Samara's death. In this case, Morinth gets to join the Normandy's crew, posing as Samara. Otherwise, Samara kills Morinth, making the mission a success.
Loyalty: Tali
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Tali has been sending Geth components to his father for research purposes. Unfortunately, the Geth awaken and slaughter the research team, along with Tali's father. Tali gets charged with treason for smuggling Geth into the Quarian fleet. To clear her name, Shepard and Tali search the research ship, and find evidence that can prove Tali didn't do anything wrong, but would condemn her father. Shepard and Tali meet the Admiralty Board shortly after to discuss the charges.
- Tali doesn't want her father's reputation ruined, so she asks Shepard not to tell the Board about the evidence. If Shepard complies, Tali is exiled.
- Shepard can also agree to present the evidence, upon which Tali's father is posthumously exiled. This makes Tali very angry.
- Alternatively, Shepard give a speech, persuading the Board that a person like Tali would never be able to betray her own people. This way, Tali's name is cleared and her father's reputation is preserved.
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Loyalty: Legion
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Legion tells Shepard that the Geth heretics, a faction of Geth fought in Mass Effect 1, are trying to convert the other Geth to the Reaper cause by unleashing a virus into the collective from a space station. Eventually, the virus is stopped—at that point, Shepard needs to decide to either rewrite the heretics' behavior to strengthen and unify the Geth, or destroy the station, and the heretics with it.
Loyalty: Zaeed
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Zaeed's mission takes him and Shepard to a refinery on Zorya, which has to be liberated from Blue Suns, a group of mercs Zaeed has co-founded. While there, they find Vido Santiago, long-time rival to Zaeed and the other co-founder of the Blue Suns. The two get in a gunfight, with Zaeed shooting a gas pipe and unleashing an explosion, injuring Vido. This starts a chain reaction which threatens to destroy the refinery and kill its workers.
- If Shepard chooses to chase Vido, the refinery workers all die, but Zaeed is able to kill Vido.
- If Shepard saves the refinery, Vido manages to barely escape, and Zaeed has to be convinced to stay loyal to Shepard.
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Loyalty: Kasumi
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Kasumi goto asks for Shepard's help with retrieving something from Donovan Hock, an arms dealer who's killed her partner, Keiji. The object in question is a greybox, which stores Keiji's memories. After finding and examining it, Shepard and Kasumi discover that there is a lot of sensitive information within which, if found, could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. However, Kasumi is reluctant to destroy the greybox due to her ties with Keiji. Shepard can convince her to either destroy or keep it.
Overlord: David Archer
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Shepard and the Normandy's crew are sent to investigate a Cerberus station which has ceased all communications with the outside world. There, they find that David Archer, the autistic brother of one of the researchers, Gavin Archer, has been merged with a Virtual Intelligence program designed to control Geth. The VI program goes rogue and the Geth control group begins destroying the station. Shepard eventually finds David deep within the laboratory, hooked up to painful-looking machinery, with his brother watching over him.
- Shepard can choose to take David from Gavin to prevent any further abuse, and send him off to Grissom Academy, a school for gifted youth.
- Alternatively, David can be left in the hands of his brother. This allows the project to continue.
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Confrontation: Jack Vs. Miranda
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At one point, Jack will get into an argument with Miranda, who refuses to admit that what Cerberus did to Jack when she was a child was wrong. Shepard can take sides, telling either of them to back off, although this will cause the one in question to become disloyal. Shepard can also convince them both to put aside their differences for the mission.
Confrontation: Legion Vs. Tali
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Like Jack and Miranda, Legion and Tali also have a fight. Tali finds Legion accessing her omni-tool and trying to send Quarian data to the Geth. Legion insists that he's doing this only to help keep his people safe. Again, Shepard can tell one to back off and leave the other alone, or make peace between the two—in this case, Legion agrees not to send any sensitive data to the Geth, and Tali decides to help him.
Saving the Normandy's Crew
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While Shepard is away on a mission, the Normandy comes under attack from a Collector cruiser, and her crew, save for Joker, is taken. Shepard has to decide whether to go after them immediately, or delay and do a few more missions first. Doing more than one mission after the crew's abduction results in the death of either several, or all crew members (save for a sole survivor, Doctor Chakwas).
Choosing the Team
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Throughout the Suicide Mission through the Omega Relay, Shepard needs to assign squad mates to various tasks, to be carried out within and around the Collector Base. Some are better fit for biotics, others for natural leaders. Depending on how good a fit the chosen squad members are for their particular tasks, they can either survive or be killed in action. If things go wrong enough, even Shepard can die, which leaves Joker the only survivor of the mission.
Destroying the Collector Base
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At the end of the final mission, Shepard is contacted by the Illusive man, who says the technology on the Collector Base could be used against the Reapers. Shepard has to decide whether to keep the Base, merely setting off a radiation pulse to kill the Collectors, or destroy it.
Mass Effect 3
Diana Allers
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On Shepard's first visit to the Citadel after the Reaper attack on Earth, they're approached by Alliance News Network correspondent Diana Allers. She wants to join the Normandy's crew to report from the front lines of the Reaper war. Should Shepard say yes, she will move onto the Normandy and will occasionally interview crew members (and Shepard). Otherwise, she joins another ship.
Jack's Students
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Shepard investigates Grissom Academy after finding out that they're under Cerberus' attack. After evacuating the students, Shepard can decide where to send Jack, who works as an instructor there, and her class. They can be used as support for other troops, which is safe, or sent off to the front lines to fight, which is considerably more dangerous.
The Rachni Queen
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A Krogan team has gone missing, and Shepard is tasked with finding it. They are found on the planet Utukku, under attack by Reaper-controlled Rachni. Grunt, the Krogan squad mate from the second game, is leading them. Shepard and the Krogan fight their way to the source of the Rachni, the Rachni Queen. Shepard has to choose between saving the Rachni Queen by sacrificing the Krogan team, or leaving the Queen to die and rescuing the Krogan team instead.
Samara's Fate
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Shepard searches for a vanished Asari commando unit who went to answer a distress call from an Ardat-Yakshi monastery. There, Shepard finds Samara, who is searching for her two other Ardat-Yakshi daughters, Rila and Falere. Rila ultimately stays behind to detonate a bomb left behind by the commando unit to destroy the monastery, which is now filled with Reaper-indoctrinated Ardat-Yakshi. Shepard, Samara and Falere manage to escape—however, Samara's Justicar code disallows her from letting Ardat-Yakshi run free. Because she would have to kill her own innocent daughter, she resolves to commit suicide.
- Shepard can choose to intervene, which results in Samara going back to fight in the Reaper war, and Falere staying on the planet to rebuild the monastery.
- Shepard can also let Samara pull the trigger. Afterwards, Falere can be deemed a risk and killed, or left alone.
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The Volus Fleet
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Shepard is asked to investigate Din Korlack, the Citadel's Volus ambassador, for ties to Cerberus. He is found captured by a group of bounty hunters, Zaeed Massani among them. Shepard and Zaeed rescue Korlack, who tells them that Cerberus plans to attack a Turian colony. He refuses to reveal which one, however, afraid that Cerberus will find him. Instead, he offers the support of the Volus fleet against the Reapers. Shepard can either ask for the fleet, or insist on getting the colony's location. If Shepard is persuasive enough, both the location of the colony and the fleet's support can be gained.
Omega: The Reactor
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Shepard and Aria T'Loak head to Omega to free it from Cerberus control. There, they join up with Nyreen Kandros, leader of a local rebel gang. While on their way to confront General Oleg Petrovsky, the local Cerberus leader, the trio gets trapped under a force field. Shepard manages to escape, and reaches Omega's reactor. Here, Shepard has to choose whether to immediately kill the power, freeing Nyreen and Aria instantly but putting thousands of civilians in danger by turning off life support, or slowly reroute the power, putting Aria and Nyreen under heavy fire. Ultimately, either choice leads to the two surviving.
Omega: General Petrovsky
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There are several ways to deal with General Oleg Petrovsky. Shepard can convince Aria to let him live, which results in him getting taken away for interrogation. Shepard can also let Aria have the general, who gives him a slow, painful death. Alternatively, Shepard can shoot Petrovsky in the head.
Krogan Vs. Salarian
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Before taking on the mission to supply the cure to the Genophage to the Krogan, Shepard is approached by the Salarian Dalatrass. She reveals that the Shroud, the facility used to disperse the cure, has been sabotaged by the Salarians to prevent a cure from being distributed. She offers her co-operation in the war effort in return for Shepard making sure the sabotage remains hidden.
- Shepard can tell Mordin about the Dalatrass' plan, though Mordin will realize there is something wrong with the Shroud by himself. He disperses the cure over the planet, sacrificing himself in the process, securing Krogan support for the Reaper war, but losing the Salarians.
- Mordin can be prevented from fixing the sabotage, either by shooting him. This results in the Dalatrass pledging the support of their First Fleet to the war effort. Wrex will eventually find out about the cure failing, and has to be killed.
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Geth Vs. Quarian
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Shepard's orders take him to the Perseus Veil, to help the Quarian Migrant Fleet fight against the Reaper-controlled Geth forces. Eventually, Shepard finds Legion on the Geth flagship, who is being used to transmit the Reaper signal to the Geth against his will. After purging the Reaper code from the Geth collective and destroying the Reaper base on Rannoch, the Quarian homeworld, Legion tells Shepard that he plans to apply his own version of the Reaper code to the Geth, in an effort to achieve true intelligence. Tali is very much against this.
- At this point, Shepard can side with the Geth. They receive their upgrades, and wipe out the Migrant Fleet. Tali, betrayed, commits suicide, while Legion uploads his own personality code into the collective, effectively sacrificing himself.
- If Shepard chooses to side with the Quarians, Legion becomes angered and attacks Shepard. The Quarian forces wipe out the remaining Geth ships.
- A third option is available: Shepard can negotiate a ceasefire. The Migrant Fleet stands down, and the Geth join the Quarians in repopulating Rannoch.
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Citadel: Brooks
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While on the Citadel on shore leave, Shepard is targeted by ex-Cerberus agent Maya Brooks, who tries to use a Cerberus-created clone of Shepard to gain control of the Normandy and use her and her crew to her own purposes. She fails, and is set to be taken away to prison. Naturally, she tries to escape. Shepard has two choices: talking her into going to prison peacefully, or killing her.
Citadel: Party Theme
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Shepard's shore leave concludes with a huge party. After sending out the invitations, Glyph, Liara's personal assistant AI who's organizing the event, asks what type of party Shepard would like to throw. A Quiet party will be more conversation-based, while an Energetic party will be more wild.
Control, Synthesis, Destruction, Refusal
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At the end of the third game, on the Citadel, Shepard meets the Catalyst, the AI in control of the Reapers. It says that Shepard is the first organic to ever be able to reach it, which means it has to rethink its solution to the chaos of organic life: wiping out organics and saving them in Reaper form, each time galactic civilization reaches its peak. However, he cannot make any changes without Shepard's help. There are four ways to continue:
- Shepard's consciousness is uploaded into the Reapers, putting them under Shepard's control. The Reapers help the galaxy rebuild and serve as guardians.
- Shepard merges with the Crucible, creating a new type of DNA which replaces all life in the galaxy with a unique organic/synthetic hybrid. This way, there is no need for the Reapers to wipe out all life anymore, since the chaos of organic life is eliminated. The Reapers help the galaxy rebuild and share their knowledge with the races.
- Shepard destroys vital equipment on the Citadel, which sends a pulse through the mass relays, reaching everywhere in the galaxy. The pulse damages the mass relays and wipes out all synthetic life, Reapers included. There's a chance of seeing Shepard wake up in a pile of rubble on Earth afterwards if this choice is taken.
- Shepard can also refuse to make a choice. In this case, the Reapers continue their work, and wipe out all organic life in the galaxy.
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Over to you, folks. Do you still remember how your actions shaped the Mass Effect universe? What are your most treasured memories? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.
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With the release of the final piece of DLC, the Mass Effect trilogy has finally concluded. And so we've decided to spend a week taking a look back: It's Mass Effect Week at Kotaku. All week long, we'll be revisiting the last five and a half years of galaxy-saving heroism, cross-species romance, and awkward dancing with new articles and some classics from years past. You can follow along here.
Look beyond the starships, biotics and looming alien menaces, and it’s Mass Effect’s characters – the people (and aliens) with whom you fight, flirt and fu… umble – that are its beating heart. The cast of the original trilogy still fuel fan debates about best squadmates and favourite moments, like Mordin’s merry songs of scientist Salarians, Tali and Legion’s debate over the soul of the Geth, or Garrus’s endless calibrations.
If you’d like to know everything we do about Mass Effect: Andromeda, click here for all the details.
Hence, no site’s coverage of Mass Effect: Andromeda is complete without a lengthy look at the characters that will make your time in the new galaxy memorable. Here is ours.
The Ryders
We’re kicking off with a look at the player characters. Scott and Sara Ryder are twins in their mid-20s, and you can play through the game as either. Whomever you don’t choose will still appear in the game (and no, you can’t romance them. Dude.)
As with Shepard in the original trilogy, you can customise their appearances, their backgrounds, and their forenames, though if you keep the default, NPCs will occasionally refer to you as Scott or Sara. Your dad and twin always uses their default forename, to avoid the confusion of everyone being called Ryder.
You inherit the title of Pathfinder from your dad, the illustrious galactic explorer and N7 marine Alec Ryder (more on him later). It’s your job to scout new planets to settle and solve any problems with doing so. For better or worse, you’re integral to the Andromeda Initiative’s mission, and can expect to be viewed accordingly.
Otherwise, who Ryder ‘is’, is up to you. Lead designer Ian Frazier says “as in the trilogy, you can be a jerk, but not a true villain. Ultimately you’re a hero – you decide what kind of hero.” You can react to others’ statements with one of four tones (casual, professional, emotional, logical), and as you do so, Ryder’s personality will settle accordingly, unlocking corresponding interactions – a hot-headed, emotional Ryder will be able to say and do things that a cool, collected Ryder won’t, and vice versa. Andromeda’s morality system is more nuanced than in the past, allowing for more shades of grey, but you still can’t be a truly evil person. Just know that there are consequences, with other characters referencing your earlier choices and comments.
When it comes to your look, you can’t change the default Ryders, but there are other human presets to choose from, all of which can be tweaked. As the Andromeda Initiative isn’t a military venture, you’ll also find a few more flamboyant haircuts than in the original trilogy. More importantly, you can choose Ryder’s military training, which determines your initial combat abilities. More on that in our combat guide.
One more thing: Ryder can get a pet pyjak – a space monkey – and it can wander around the Tempest.
Mass Effect: Andromeda squadmates
These are the guys, girls and monogendered aliens who can join you on missions. They have their own skill trees, and extensive interactions with Ryder – up to and, in some cases, including, romance.
Excitingly, loyalty missions – a much-loved feature of Mass Effect 2 – are back. You can build “trust” with your squadmates, and their loyalty mission will unlock at a certain level of trust. Unlocking all of them in one playthrough is very difficult, since some characters’ personalities and agendas conflict with one another. Completing a character’s loyalty mission unlocks a new and powerful skill tree for them.
Cora Harper
Like the Ryders, Cora arrives in Andromeda aboard the human ark, Hyperion. As such, she’s one of the two squadmates available from the start of the game. Cora is a romance option for Scott Ryder – as was made graphically clear in the New Earth trailer – but she’s not into Sara.
Cora is your team’s operations specialist in charge of ground missions, a human biotic, and one of your two starting squadmates. After a career in the Alliance military, she served with Talein’s Daughters, an Asari commando unit, as part of a Council inter-species integration scheme. She is second-in-command of the human Pathfinder team and Alec Ryder’s appointed successor, so she’s understandably ruffled when you get the Pathfinder job instead of her.
Cora’s in-game skills are as follows:
- Charge
- Nova
- Shield Boost
- Asari Commando – Cora’s unique offensive skill tree, which boosts shotguns, powers and melee attacks
- Defensive Training
One more thing: she shares a surname with the human supremacist, the Illusive Man, whose name was revealed to be Jack Harper. Check out our story guide for more evidence of Cerberus’s theorised connection to the Andromeda Initiative, and everything Bioware have said denying it.
Liam Kosta
Liam specialises in crisis response for the Pathfinder team. In the team briefing, we learn he studied engineering at university, but left to train as a policeman. He was “hand-picked” by Alec Ryder due to his multidisciplinary skills. He’s also a Londoner, and thus has a British accent.
“Liam is the youthful, enthusiastic, and in some cases, the idealistic follower that you get,” creative director Mac Walters told Game Informer. He’s got high hopes for humanity’s future in Andromeda and will try to encourage the team in dire situations, but he’s also hot-headed and quick to react emotionally if things go south. Sounds to us like a great opportunity for a serious reality check on those youthful high spirits about halfway through the game.
Though cheerful, he takes his duties seriously and supports Ryder’s decisions. “He’s got Ryder’s back,” says Walters. We got a look at his loyalty mission at Pax East – you help him search for a “contact” apparently captured by pirates, but the footage doesn’t give away much more than that when it comes to the story. The mission itself is a fight through a Kett ship as gravity fields change direction around you, and features a few jokes, showing some of the game’s lighter tone.
Liam’s profile says he’s a close-range fighter who moves quickly with his jump jets, and favours ‘overclocked dual omni-blades’. His favourite ability is ‘havoc strike’, in which he leaps forward to stun enemies and prime them for combo detonations. In Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer, havoc strike was exclusive to the Turian Havoc Soldier, which will return as a class in Andromeda’s multiplayer.
His in-game skills are as follows:
- Frag Grenade
- Havoc Strike
- Overload
- Military Training – boosts Liam’s offensive abilities in general
- Defence
Pelessaria ‘Peebee’ B’Sayle
Peebee is an Asari, but if you think you know what to expect from previous experience, you’re probably wrong; she has little in common with the po-faced Liara or Samara, or the femme fatale Morinth.
“She’s very bubbly; Liara was very serious,” says Walters. “Peebee will buck the norm at any given time. She’s not about rules or culture or anything like that. She’s not even about teams or teamwork.”
BioWare wanted to play with your perception of alien species, so your new Asari will be flighty and blunt rather than solemn and diplomatic. I guess that’s the nature of a colonisation mission; it attracts the misfits. Her name is actually a nickname, a contraction of her full name Pelessaria B’Sayle. She hails from Port Lerama, capital of the planet Hyetiana, a hub for Asari science and education.
Bored with the Milky Way, she came to Andromeda aboard the Nexus, but soon went roaming on her own; her profile describes her as “pathologically independent”. She’s interested in the alien technology which you investigate as you explore the Heleus Cluster, and as such, your paths will cross early on.
We got a look at Peebee’s thirst for treasure-hunting in footage of her loyalty mission, courtesy of IGN. Having tracked a signal from the mysterious Remnant to a very hostile lava planet where the Tempest can’t land, Peebee tricks you into an escape pod and launches you at the surface. It seems she has a rival, another Asari named Kalinda, who tries to steal her discovery from under her nose.
Peebee’s profile says she is a gunslinger and a “biotic destabiliser” when it comes to combat, with her favourite weapon being a Sidewinder Outlaw pistol and her favourite power being “Invasion”. As we found in our hands-on time with the game, that’s actually a new tech power, not a biotic one. It releases a swarm of VI drones at a target, weakening their defences, and can be upgraded to spread to nearby enemies.
It’s also confirmed that Peebee is a romance option. Her voice actress, Christine Lakin, says she Peebee is “one of the most fun characters I’ve voiced.”
Interestingly, Peebee is one of the very few Asari with eyebrows. They’re the result of a recessive gene somewhere in her ancestry.
Vetra Nyx
Born on the Turian homeworld of Palaven and having resided in “too many places to count“, Vetra is a drifter, who at some point drifted into the wrong crowd: she has survived the rough world of smugglers and mercenaries, sharpening her street smarts and adaptability along the way. She’s a good person to have with you when dealing with crooks.
Her experiences have also taught Vetra the value of having someone to watch her back – she’s fiercely loyal once you prove yourself worthy of her trust. In combat, she favours her modified Cyclone assault rifle, and wears customised power armour which provides reinforced shields when activated.
Vetra features briefly in the New Earth trailer, and appeared for the first time in a gameplay trailer from The Game Awards 2016, where she accompanied Sara Ryder and Drack (see below) on an away mission to the planet Kadara.
If you fancy hooking up with the savvy Turian, it’s looking like she’s a romance option with either gay or bisexual tastes – this is based on our time with the early access trial, so don’t take it as 100% confirmed just yet.
Danielle Rayne provides Vetra’s voice – she appeared in Revenge, Hawaii Five-0 and the short fan film Portal: No Escape. Also: she’s tall, and will have her own unique rig (like many alien races) to keep her that way.
Nakmor Drack
Drack is a very old male Krogan. Given their fondness for violence, this should tell you a few things about him right away: he’s seen a lot of fighting, and gotten very good at it. According to his profile, Drack “spent more than 1,400 years causing a ruckus in the Milky Way – wearing the title of soldier, mercenary, and at times, pirate.” This would mean he is old enough to have been born during the Krogan rebellions, which ended in around 800 of the Council Era (CE), with the Andromeda Initiative leaving the Milky Way in 2185 CE. He has plenty to say about the genophage and the galaxy’s treatment of his species.
Drack wears a badass spacesuit adorned with bones – according to his character kit, these are Kett bones. He was first revealed in that TGA trailer, getting off the Tempest with Ryder and Vetra, and can be seen slapping some aliens around in the New Earth trailer. “I don’t need an army,” says Scott Ryder. “I’ve got a Krogan.”
Drack’s profile describes him as a veteran warrior and close combatant, who favours a Ruzad shotgun – apparently, ‘Ruzad’ is the Krogan for ‘judgement’. Ian Frazier has also said that we’ll see “an entirely new Krogan gun, sort of a spiritual successor to the Claymore“, but since that gun was so rare and powerful, we’d be a little surprised if Drack’s starting weapon was its successor. His favourite ability is Blood Rage, which enhances his melee damage, damage resistance, and health regeneration – this sounds functionally similar to Grunt’s Krogan Berserker ability. He has the incinerate tech power, but otherwise, he’s all about combat skills.
We’ve met Drack’s clan before. If Wrex leads Clan Urdnot in Mass Effect 2, a Clan Nakmor ambassador and two warriors can be found in the Urdnot camp, intent on negotiating an alliance. Most of Clan Nakmor joined the Andromeda Initiative, and Drack tagged along, tempted by the promise of a whole new galaxy full of stuff to shoot.
A video profile courtesy of IGN states that he’s also very dutiful, sticking to his role on the Nexus and to his granddaughter, Kesh, who serves as its superintendent. “He’s a guy with a lot of heart,” says Bioware writer Cathleen Rootsaert.
Finally, many Mass Effect fans like Krogans, but if you really like Krogans, Frazier is deliberately coy about what would be the most anatomically-challenging coupling in the series to date:
@sneakywtchthief We're being pretty hush-hush on who does and doesn't have a romance, so I can't say. But if we did, I'd call it Kromance.
— Ian S. Frazier (@tibermoon) February 15, 2017
Jaal Ama Darav
Confirmed as your sixth squadmate by combat trailers and our hands-on preview, here’s Jaal making his debut in the New Earth trailer:
Jaal is an Angara, who sit alongside the invading Kett and the ancient Remnant as one of the three species native to the new galaxy. You are not the only ones suffering at the hands of the Kett; in another IGN profile, Cathleen Rootsaert reveals that Jaal is a high-ranking member of the Angaran resistance against them. He joins your team as a kind of liaison between you and the Resistance, but is also not satisfied with his place and direction in life. He goes on quite the arc as he adjusts to his role on your team.
Mass Effect Alliance Navy
It’s been about 80 years since the Kett arrived in the Heleus cluster and started beating the Angara up. Once an advanced race, they haven’t fared well against the Kett so far, which is where you come in. Rootsaert says the Angara “as a species are very free with their emotions”, openly expressing sorrow, joy and anger with tears, hugs and punches to the face. In our preview, we certainly found Jaal very direct – a trait magnified by his incomprehension of Milky Way idioms. Imagine Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy and you’ll get an idea of the kind of humour you can expect.
Mike Gamble tweeted the following picture of Jaal with a sniper rifle, which should give you an idea of what he’s like in battle:
Since you asked… @AarynFlynnpic.twitter.com/pzntFUdFQn
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) February 8, 2017
It’s also confirmed that Jaal will be a romance option.
Anyone else?
Six squadmates is all we get for now, but at one point in development, seven squadmates were planned: that leaked survey said “you will recruit seven distinct crew members to fight by your side”, and Eurogamer spoke with creative director Mac Walters in December last year, who revealed that a squadmate had been cut.
Walters uses the masculine pronoun, so he was male, and Eurogamer’s interviewer assumes that he was Salarian. Walters seems to accept this suggestion, saying “part of” the decision to cut him was that “we have a Salarian on the crew”, referring to your pilot (see below).
In that interview, Walters says “it is possible” that the cut squadmate will return. If there’s any chance of a seventh squadmate, it’ll happen via DLC.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Tempest crew
Every band needs its roadies – these are the people who make it all happen behind the scenes while you and your squad are out exploring. They live alongside you on your sleek new scout ship, the Tempest, and keep it all running smoothly. They all have lots to say, and some can be romanced. Note that while only squadmates have loyalty missions, “other crew can have missions of their own“.
Kallo Jath
Meet your new pilot. Kallo Jath is a male Salarian who helped to design the Tempest, so who better to fly it? He narrates the briefing that walks you through it and the Nomad. It’s nice to know we’ll have a Salarian to chat with on the bridge, even though there’s no conceivable way for Kallo to be as cool as Mordin Solus.
Dr Lexi T’Perro
As the doctor who gives you a checking-over after you’re thawed out of cryosleep, Lexi T’Perro is one of the first faces you see in the Andromeda galaxy. She transfers from ark Hyperion to your ship, the Tempest, where it’s her job to look after the Pathfinder team’s physical and mental wellbeing.
Mass Effect Alliance Ranking System
As creative director Mac Walters says, “you can go to Lexi and get opinions from her about how you’re playing the game, and how people are reacting to the decisions you’re making”. This is helpful for anyone looking for pointers on keeping morale high or forming certain relationships within the crew – she’s your wingman/wingperson. Wing-Asari. Whatever.
She’s voiced by Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, and has “her own things that she’s dealing with”, including a rivalry with Peebee, a bit of a crush on Drack, and the pressure of taking care of the Andromeda Initiative’s biggest, best hope (that’s you).
Gil Brodie
Gil is the Tempest’s engineer. He’s voiced by Gethin Anthony, known for playing Renly Baratheon in Game of Thrones. As fans will know, Renly was the husband of Natalie Dormer’s character, Margaery Tyrell.
Gil says he came to Andromeda to find a purpose for himself, and he responds well to a bit of flirting from Scott Ryder. He’s a pretty colourful personality with a bizarre sense of humour – one of lead designer Ian Frazier’s favourite things about him, but which will probably divide fans.
You can see a little more of Gil in IGN’s tour of the Tempest, where he discusses getting the Nexus up and running.
Suvi Anwar
Suvi is a young Scottish lady who serves as the Tempest’s science officer. She sits across the bridge from Kallo, gazing at the stars. She is one of Ian Frazier’s “favourite characters”.
Suvi is religious, and speaks openly about her faith in an airy Scots’ brogue. She sees science and religion as complementary, with the former as a means of understanding “the divine intelligence behind all of creation.” Gamespot have a cool piece discussing her place in Mass Effect’s tradition of exploring philosophy.
Suvi also has a slightly ditzy streak, which is on show in IGN’s tour of the Tempest – following a family tradition, she licked a rock while exploring, and contracted some kind of rash. She is voiced by Glaswegian actress Katy Townsend, who has also appeared in Fallout 4 as Cait and something called ‘Monster High: Electrified’.
SAM
SAM stands for Simulated Adaptive Matrix. It’s an AI designed by Alec Ryder himself, and sees and feels as the Pathfinder does via a neural link. The Pathfinder team briefing mentions the first such links were created by your mother, a Dr Elen Ryder.
Thanks to these links and a quantum entanglement communication system, SAM can support you while you’re on missions from its node in the ark. This support includes “situational awareness, problem solving and even tactical enhancements” – SAM’s computing power can enhance your combat abilities in the form of six ‘profiles’. See our combat guide for more on that.
When SAM was first revealed, it was assumed that it would be the Tempest’s equivalent of EDI, the Normandy’s AI from the original trilogy, to which Mass Effect producer Fabrice Condominas says:
“Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that SAM is ultimately not a living being; it’s more of an AI or robot. But it’s way broader than EDI, the relationship is way different. SAM handles a number of things as well as your vessel. It is connected to you permanently and was connected to, and knew, your father, Alec. There’s a very specific relationship there. It’s more of a partner than EDI was. You’re way closer emotionally to SAM.”
Mass Effect: Andromeda secondary characters
Neither crewmates nor squadmates, these are the supporting players who will nonetheless have an important role in the story, whether through villainy, political power or family ties.
Alec Ryder
Meet your dad. Alec Ryder was one of the first humans to travel through a mass relay, and later completed the Alliance’s gruelling N7 training to confirm his status as one of humanity’s best soldiers. According to his assessment in the Pathfinder team briefing, he fought the Turians on Shanxi in the First Contact War, and served as a military attache to the Citadel in the 2160s.
A skilled scientist as well as a soldier, he became interested in artificial intelligence “as a means of human advancement” (an interesting choice of words). His pursuit of this illegal technology led to him being dishonorably discharged from the Alliance military, which conveniently freed him up for the Andromeda Initiative.
Mass Effect 3 Alliance.soldier
Timoshenko engineering mechanics pdf. Alec begins the game as Pathfinder for the Initiative’s human expedition – a role which you, as one of his kids, later inherit. As the human Pathfinder he’s worked closely with Jien Garson, the Initiative’s founder; they appear side by side in the early trailers, some of which Alec also narrates. His voice actor is Clancy Brown, whom you may recognise from Starship Troopers, The Shawshank Redeption, and the Warcraft movie (but don’t hold that against him).
The Kett Archon
Andromeda’s main villain, we got our best look at the Kett Archon in the New Earth trailer. He says simply “I am Archon” before demanding that the Pathfinder team “surrender or burn”. This is followed by an attack.
Scott Ryder says “we’ve been outplayed. The Archon is a master of his game,” just as we see footage of the Archon unleashing a blast of blue energy, so he clearly has powers of some kind, and we can surmise he’s a skilled leader or manipulator who views you as a threat. Beyond that, we don’t know much.
Jien Garson
The Andromeda Initiative is Jien Garson’s brainchild; she is its founder and director. She’s a human, continuing Mass Effect’s usual depiction of humans as the most expansionist and ambitious of the Milky Way species.
Garson appears in the Andromeda Initiative ‘orientation’ trailer, in which she explains that she will be overseeing the mission from the Nexus. She is voiced by Sense8 actress Jamie Clayton.
Jarun Tann
Jarun Tann is a Salarian politician, prominent in the Andromeda Initiative’s efforts to establish a government in the new galaxy. His voice actor is Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani, who discusses Tann’s personality in this interview.
To be honest, he’s not as effective as you’d hope. Nanjiani says he’s “a little bit in over his head, but doesn’t want anyone to know.” He means well, but also likes power, and plays up his own effectiveness and importance. Nanjiani’s closing thoughts concern the moral shades of grey in Mass Effect, which you’ll navigate in your dealings with Jarun Tann.
Sloane Kelly
Featured in the TGA 2016 trailer, Sloane Kelly was head of security on the Nexus before getting kicked out after its arrival in Andromeda. She then found her way to the planet Kadara of the Govorkam system, and rose to a position of power among the outlaws there. As leader of one of the game’s factions, she’s a key player in the complicated politics of the Heleus cluster. Whether you approve or disapprove of what she represents, and how you deal with her as a result, is one of the key questions of Andromeda’s politics.
Before joining the Andromeda Initiative, Kelly served in the Alliance with a “nearly spotless” record. Hotheaded and uncomfortable with authority, those few blemishes were a number of “altercations” with other officers.
Kalinda
First revealed in footage of Peebee’s loyalty mission, Kalinda is a rival of your Asari squadmate in her search for Remnant technology (she asks if Peebee is “tracking that sweet signal too”).
Ancient Andromedan tech isn’t her only interest, though: she instructs her henchmen to hinder the party, offering “a triple share to whoever brings me their sweet implants”, suggesting that the value of a Pathfinder’s SAM implants is widely understood. She also sics a Krogan outlaw named Krannit – whom you “keep running into” – on you.
That about covers everything we know so far, but Mass Effect: Andromeda is still new, so we’ll update this as we explore further.
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